Boys Books and Bitches
by tropialparadiselover4187
Summary: Okay this has nothing to do with across five aprils but i hope you guys like it. :D


Elizabeth Zumwalt 18200

616 20th Ave East

Seattle, WA 98112

Phone Number

E-mail Address

The dorm across the hall By Elizabeth Zumwalt

Lovely Lottery Prizes…3

Application Situation…7

The Day of Defeat…11

Grave Tidings to Come…19

Days of Joy…23

Let's Go to Asheville…36

All Aboard the Stanford Express…...40

The Curses….45

Welcoming Mates…..48

The Ceremony…61

Derpression is Moi…73

Tryout Trauma…80

I1. Lovely Lottery Prizes

hate this school!" Kimberly Stanford exclaimed as she wrung her hands. Her best friend, Posy McWilliams, patted her on the back.  
"What's wrong now, K?" she asked empathically as she adjusted her bra straps, having seen her BFF behave like this many times before. She and Kimberly walked out of Evergreen Hill Girl's School's courtyard, passing girls in the school's traditional trademark uniform-a green plaid skirt, white Oxford blouse, forest green v-neck sleeveless sweater, green knee-high stockings, and coal black heeled ballet flats, playing BS, gossiping, chewing gum, or texting their parents and friends to see what was new. Most of the girls were in 7th and 8th grade (the girls were in 8th grade) and the others were from the Evergreen Hill Upper School. Everyone at EH-even the teachers-wore green-blue eye shadow and the most perfect black line on the edge of the lid. As the two friends were walking out, fifteen girls in cheerleader uniforms walked over to them. The leader of the cheerleader squad, Sierra Gurley, was tall and pretty with a small green faux diamond in her small, attractive nose.  
"Hey, losers! What happened to you guys?" simpered Sierra in a false, sweetie-pie voice.

"It's like you decided to binge on burgers last night. They're making there appearance in your arms, I see."  
Her goon squad cackled as they strutted away. Kimberly brooded as she stormed away from school and was three houses away from her own as she sat down on a large willow branch hanging over a pond. Posy sat beside her as she fiddled with her socks. She reached over and patted her friend on the back. That was too much for Kimberly.  
"Sierra-you-I-she-shi-tzu-" she gasped before she started sobbing into the shoulder of Posy's school uniform until it was dripping wet with tears. Kimberly wiped her nose on her sleeve and dabbed at her red eyes with a silk cloth that she kept in her stocking, along with her house key, Fits to your Leg! wallet, Stanford Treats Inc. Minty Wonderland gum, and Apocalypstick lipstick in Signed a Contract with The Devil.  
After she had calmed down, Kimberly said,  
"I'm applying to a new school because I can't deal with another year of this next year."  
Posy nodded with cencerity. "Same with me!"  
"I'll meet up with you later," Kimberly sniffed as she hopped off the tree branch and walked home. Posy nodded and walked to her house.

When the two girls had started 8th Grade, Sierra had been the new girl. They had tried to make her feel as welcome as possible. But Sierra-as evil and cold as always-made clear that she didn't want to establish any form of relationship, friendly or not, with either of them whatsoever by drilling a hole in the girl's bathroom floor, installing a hairdryer, and then on the day Posy decided to wear a crinoline under her uniform, Sierra and her clique had gathered under the bathroom and watched as Posy came in and ruffled her skirt. But the girls waited for more girls to come in and after Sierra heard a few girls giggling as they glossed their lips, she knew it was time. She had waited for Posy to stand directly over the hole and she nodded to one of her sidekicks, Remesny, to push the trigger and-

**BOOMWHOOOSH!**

They watched as Posy's skirts went up, displaying her shifty slip and hearted underwear. All of the girls had stared at Posy like a newborn fawn, then started to laugh. Posy's face turned vermillion red against the pale walls. She ran out of the bathroom and the salty waterfalls began gushing out of her blue eyes and down her flushed, hot cheeks. She hid in the secret room behind the waterfall in the school's courtyard with her waterproof backpack and ripped off her crinoline as she called Kimberly on her cell, whom 10 minutes later came into the room and shared her gum and went to Pompa Zion's Ice Cream Parlor, where they shared Italia Alps Snow Storm Oreo milkcreamshakes. A milkcreamshake is made of the cream of ice cream, ice cream, cream, ice, Stanford CANDY Minty Wonderland natural flavors, Geneva dark chocolate chunks, Oreos, and Alp Snow, otherwise clean, fresh, pure snow from the Swiss Alps, carefully picked and transported by Pompa Zion himself.

Posy walked over to Kimberly's house and as she rang the doorbell, Kimberly came out to greet her and said  
"You know what? Let's apply to an American school. I want to apply to a boarding school because I've never had an experience quite like it. There are many fine schools here in England, but I want to try an…American school. There are many good ones there but there's one that interests me-it's called… well, I don't remember what it's called, but the address is 360 Asheville School Road, in Asheville, North Carolina, 28801. I think it's called Asheville School. I need to talk to Mum about-" Kimberly faltered as she heard a nerve-racking, blood-curdling scream from inside her home-a cozy two story brownstone flat right on the river Thames. Kimberly ran inside, crying out,  
"Mum! Mum! Are you okay?"  
They found Mrs. Jones B. Stanford holding her head in her hands on the floor.  
"Mum! Did someone die?!"  
"I think _this_ might explain all the drama," Posy muttered, gesturing to the vintage coffee table that the Stanford family kept in the living room. On the smooth mahogany surface was a letter and envelope. Kimberly picked up the folded letter and unfolded it, where there was a lottery ticket.  
Then Kimberly began to read.  
"'Dear Mrs. Jones B Stanford,  
I am pleased to inform you that you are the lucky winner of the £1,000 million pounds jackpot!  
We would like to thank you for playing and enjoy! You may pick up your winnings at the casino.' Oh my god, Posy! We're rich! We're filthy stinking bloody rich!"  
"Blimey, Kim! My mum tried for the same exact jackpot! She's going to be pretty jealous,"  
Posy rambled. Her mum had always loathed being poor and in a shabby shape, even though she had a lot of money in her savings, but was too lazy to use it, not knowing that her daughter had withdrawn 100,000 pounds and gone on a shopping spree with Kimberly, splurging on Michel Kors, Gilly Hicks, Burberry and Dior.  
"Now," Kimberly smiled, a twinkle in her pale green eyes, like small green opals in a museum.  
"About American schools."

O2. Application Situation

h, right, right of course. As you were saying, we should try a boarding school. Oh, I know!" Posy squealed.  
"What?" Kimberly said, her eyebrows raised.

"We get suitcases for our graduation presents and £1,000,000 each. Then we go on a huge shopping spree, and then we're all set for next year."  
"Yes let's!" Kimberly squeaked. She was sitting with Posy in her room-a small, tidy space about 8x5 meters with a dresser, bed, table, desk, chair, closet, and beanbag. Soon, the two girls decided to Skype their other friends, whom were sisters. Their names were Diana, Hannah, Nicole and Rachel Hung. Both of them had known the sisters through their mothers since birth, for they were all born on the same day, so they often celebrated together. The first time they had ever met was 4 days after birth. The two 8th graders started telling the sisters about their day while the Hungs were in Hawaii. When they heard about the money Kimberly's mum had won, Hannah squealed  
"Oh my god! What will you use it for?"  
"Well," Kimberly said, "right now, I don't know. The stakes for winning that much was high. And I was wondering: if we all get accepted to this Asheville School, would you like to come on our little spree?"  
The Chinese British girls were silent before screaming "Yes! Yes!", then Posy wrapped up the call as Kimberly went downstairs. Then the Hungs had to go to dinner at the Volcanic Mango. Kimberly came up half an hour after Posy had finished the call.  
"I found the applications online, by the way,"  
Kimberly said, grinning as she looked at the closed computer.  
"I e-mailed you the application website, by the way. Just enter your school ID and make up a password, and they'll give you the applications. Just make sure to click the international application, though." Posy got on with ease and started drilling Kimberly about what there was on it. Kimberly had her fill out the sections one by one.  
The two girls finished the applications from 4:18pm to the silvery glow of the moon of 11:00pm, so Posy called her mom to confirm that she was staying the night. Soon, both girls were asleep in the reflection of the Thames, dreaming of money, America, boarding schools, and suitcases.  
Posy awoke to the sounds of moaning, sneezing, and ice cubes on glass. She looked up. On her bed, laying in an old linen nightgown and shawl, was Kimberly. Even though she was clad in about 5 blankets, she shivered.  
"Posy," Mrs. Stanford said "Kimberly's sick with a touch of stomach flu. Now, I'm sorry to say this, but I am afraid you must leave, for I don't want you to be sickened. Good day."  
"Good-bye, Mrs. Stanford," Posy said as she skipped out of her friends room, with her mother coaxing some syrup from a vial in their medicine cabinet into Kimberly's mouth. Posy watched as her friend began to gag and ran to the bathroom. Posy ran out of the house as fast as her model thin, spaghetti legs could carry her, down the block, round the corner, and down five houses, to see her mother leaning out the window, a sour look plastered on her face.  
"Posy Anne McWilliams…"  
her mother began. Posy sighed and bit her lip. This is what she usually said before she started ranting. But before Posy could protest, her mum screamed  
"SHE WON THE LOTTERY!"  
"Um, yes. I also applied to an American boarding school."  
"Okay, then. Let's advertise this…"  
Posy groaned.  
"…at school. We can get more of your friends to join you in school. Like the Hungs."  
"I-" A light blub went off in her head.  
"Oh, yes, of course! Thank you so so so much!" she hollered.  
"As much as I hate them…  
I LOVE YOUR FUNNY IDEAS!" Posy rushed off to make posters, flyers, brochures, and fees for clothes on a shopping spree.

P3. The Day of Defeat

osy was working like a storm-concentrated on wrecking every obstacle in her way. By the end of Sunday, Posy had printed 300 flyers, 24 posters, 324 brochures, and 500 clothes fees. She smiled as she slid all of the brochures into people's lockers.  
On the front of the glossy self designed brochure, it read:  
_America the Beautiful!  
Let's go to Asheville!  
Do you dislike Evergreen Hill?  
Do you dislike Evergreen Hill because of, ahem, certain bullies? Or because of the crappy cafeteria food the lunch ladies serve that has caused stomach flu and severe vomiting? Don't feel lonely, because I'm with you, too!  
I have disliked the bloody school since the beginning of this year, courtesy of a Sierra Gurley. She has made an embarrassment of me by spying on me and shooting hot, pressurized air under my crinoline, sending it upward, which I think is a serious offense to me and others.  
So join me in an attempt to remove yourselves from this horrid environment and come on a journey with me to America and to Asheville School. __  
_Then the next column read:  
_What will we do?  
Read this section for important information for if you get in!  
If you do get in to Asheville school, well first things first, congrats! If you don't…I'm sorry, better luck next year.  
You will go on a shopping spree with Kimberly and I and the other students who get in. Each of you will be given 1,000,000 pounds to spend on clothes, shoes, and other things.  
We will have a dorm to share, so get all of your complete dorm necessities and things that you already have at home.  
Get your shopping mode on, because we're going to the best mall in London!  
_  
Posy had called earlier in the morning to check on Kimberly. She was getting worse. She couldn't keep anything down, not even a drop of water, so much during the conversation, she got off the phone and had her previous meal come up as quietly as possible. So the best thing they could do was text each other  
"Posy, pleez, u r my only hope," was all Kimberly texted to her friend, in hope to have good business.  
This reminded Posy of a time in 6th grade. The most popular girl in the seventh form, Pertain Talismaner, was passing out her party invitations to everyone in the whole grade. Everyone but Posy had gotten her invites. After school, Posy hurried after Pertain.  
"Oh hi, hon. Whaddya want?"  
"Um," Posy stuttered, "I'd like my invitation, please."  
"Okay. Here, hon."  
And with that, she had shimmied away. Posy ripped open her envelope, and there, mockingly written on the card, like an ice-cold sneer, were those 8 mean words  
It's a Party, and you're NOT Invited, LOSER!  
Posy crumpled the invitation in her hand as she caught Pertain sneering at her with a face splitting grin. Posy had ran out of the building and all the way home, and into her bedroom, where she grew limp and started sobbing like the world was going to end.  
"I'm gonna get her, God,"  
Posy said that night in her prayers  
"Please help me get her out of school or, even better, out of town."  
The next day, in Home Room, Pertain's seat was empty. According to the latest gossip, Pertain's family money well had run dry from a large, mysterious, unplanned withdrawal, so she had to live with her richer than the Devil grandmother in Chicago, but before she left, Pertain had her party. Posy had gone with Kimberly, and when Pertain saw Posy, she had turned as red as a crimson flame.  
"You-you weren't invited,"  
she spluttered, spewing punch all over Posy's jacket, trying to ruin her dress.  
"Don't count your eggs before they hatch, you meddlesome hag,"  
Kimberly sneered as she walked away with Posy. As Posy glanced over her shoulder, Pertain started to bawl, like a large 12 year old baby dressed in designer clothes and slathered in makeup.  
"MUM!" she shrieked, her mascara running into her eyes, looking like a Goth Bratz on the verge of a mental breakdown.  
"THERE'S AN UNIVITED GIRL HERE!"  
Pertain didn't know, however, that she was leaning on nothing, so as she fell back in a dead faint, she crashed into a table with a chocolate fountain trickling dark chocolate fondue and a punch fountain with strawberry lemonade. _The table must've been made of cheap cardboard_, Posy thought, because it crumpled under Pertain's puny body weight like paper, and the two fountains collapsed, sending chocolate fondue and punch trickling down on Pertain and her designer golden dress, like a sweet waterfall, sending sweet but deadly sour water, or in this case, chocolate and strawberry lemonade combining forces. Pertain spluttered and coughed as sweet and sour chocolate lemonade cascaded down her flawless, pancake-makeup covered face and into her mouth and nose, taking away all of the makeup with it. _What an ugly face,_ Posy thought, as she looked at lots of red, angry mounds on Pertain's naked face. She looked down at her once-pretty-but-now-about-as-good-and useful-as-a-dust-mop-or-table-rag dress. She put her flawed face in her chocolate and makeup smeared hands, as she sat there sobbing, amidst the ruins of the table and fountains and the throngs of 6th graders. As much as the girls had hated her, they felt a little bit of pity for her. Pertain's poor, stressed-out mother, called everyone's parents to pick up their children early. That night, as Kimberly's mum came round to pick the girls up, she asked, with curiosity  
"What was all the drama about, Kimberly?"  
"I don't know, Mum.  
"Posy?"  
"I don't know, ma'am."  
"Well, whatever the matter, Pertain Talismaner is overly dramatic. But even so, how was it?"

Soon after Posy had put the last bit of information about Asheville School in everyone's locker, her phone began to beep like mad.  
"Posy McWilliams is on. Who is this?"  
"If it isn't you," Kimberly laughed before retching.  
"I'm fine, thanks for asking. My fever just broke."  
"Oh, really?!" Posy squealed, jumping up and down, her skirt liner brushing against her thighs gently like those mutant flowers that she saw on a field trip to the British Museum that she had felt on her cheek-soft, downy, warm and milky white.  
"I've pulled the slip," Posy said, in a secret code which meant "I've put all my Asheville related things into people's lockers, so we're safe."  
"Lilly buds are closed," Your secret's safe with me.  
Kimberly said sighing, her breath sounding like a soft, calm, gentle breeze.  
"Great. Well, I need to milk the cow." I have to go.  
"Same."  
"Bye."  
"Bye."  
Posy snapped her phone shut and ran off to homeroom, just as Ms. Driver, her homeroom teacher called her name for attendance.  
"Present!" she squeaked.  
At least she wouldn't have to go to Headmaster Riley's office for a spanking. To be sure of that, she hastily tightened her garters and made sure to never be late. There had been at least thirty thousand rumors the whole time Posy had been at Evergreen Hill about some poor girl getting abused physically. The teachers forbad the mention of any of the tales, even though after school, all of them started yakking about it. One of these horrifying stories was about a girl named Elaina Piggott who used to be in Posy's class. She was late for class once, and she went to the headmaster's office, and came back an hour later, sniffling.  
"My dear Elaina, what is wrong?"  
Mrs. Cabott, the social studies teacher exclaimed in horror.  
Elaina broke down in tears.  
"He-he touched me…you know where. And he tried to-to hit me. Oh, I want to go home!"  
she sobbed in terror. The very next day, she left altogether, and now there were little words short of a rumor going around about how Elaina's rich uncle was going to sue the school over it. Now Posy and Kimberly hid in the school's supplies closet if they were late and sobbed with relief about not getting abused. Soon, Elaina came back to tell Kimberly and Posy that they were allowed to come to the trail as witnesses. Now they were both scared. They simply did not want to be one of Headmaster Riley's next hapless young victims!

Soon, it was lunchtime, and everyone discovered the Asheville pamphlets that were now crammed inside their lockers.  
"What is this, some kind of bloody joke?"  
"Whoever wrote this is taking a trip with the headmaster for sure!"  
"Hey, what the bloody hell is this here paper?"  
"Hey, Mildred, did ya get that dumb brochure as well?"  
"Rania, your lining is askew, you should fix it."  
"Let's go to-"  
"STOP!"  
Posy hollered. The halls grew quiet as 384 eyes looked her way.  
"I did it,"  
the young 8th grader whispered. Everyone was still stunned into silence. Then an unruly 7th grader pulled out lasagna from her lunch box and chucked it at Posy, splattering her with sauce and noodles.  
"GET HER!"  
they all yelled, pelting their lunches at poor Posy, bagels, jelly sandwiches, Ribena bottles, and even chocolate pudding cups flew into her bosom as she flew like a bird-no, she swore it-she actually was hovering 10 centimeters above the tiles hallway.  
"WITCH!"  
the mob hollered, as they noted her hovering.  
"I don't know why I do this!"  
the poor girl sobbed, her face slick with chocolate and breadcrumbs. She didn't know why she did it. Her mum, however knew her about it.

It was the day they had met the Hung babies. They had all been swaddled in hot pink baby blankets, all babbling and cooing with joy. That's when Posy started hover above her mother's lap.  
"OH MY GOD!" her mother screamed.  
The other mothers came rushing, still cradling their bundles of joy. They asked Mrs. McWilliams what was wrong, and as they saw Posy still levitating some inches above her mother's lap, they gasped. And their babies all went wide-eyed, all while putting their small fingers in their mouths and gurgling.  
Posy quickly grabbed her things from her locker, and fled the school, never wanting to step foot inside the gates again.

K4. Grave Tidings to Come

imberly was picking at the stupid linen shawl her mum had got her at a thrift store. She had gotten better, and she was waiting for a reply from Posy. Suddenly, a door banged from the other side of her door, and quick footsteps clicked on the mahogany wood in the hall.  
"Mum?" Kimberly moaned.  
"I'm not your mum." The voice sounded familiar. And sounding like…crying?  
"Mum, stop."  
Then the knob started to turn.  
"Alright, then. Get out of my house before I-"  
The door clicked and Posy came running in sobbing.  
"Posy! What are you-"  
Kimberly was stunned into silence by Posy's appearance. Her hair was matted with spaghetti and jam. Her usual uniform, which was always pressed, clean and starched on a daily basis, was streaked with pudding and lasagna noodles, her stockings soaking with Ribena juice

and to top it all off, her face was slick with chocolate and…were those cake crumbs?  
"Oh, Posy! What happened?"  
Kimberly cried, wiping her friend's frosting incrusted face with her cheap linen shawl.  
"Was it the headmaster?" she gasped her eyes growing to the size of golf balls.  
"N-no," Posy sobbed, her tears cleaning her face  
"I am a w-witch."  
"Posy! Don't say that! Here now, let's talk more about this over a bath. And here, change into my robe. Strip yourself clean of all your clothes but your underwear. I'll put those in the wash."  
Before long, Kimberly's new jet tub was frothing with fragrant rose petals and rose-olive bubble bath. However, before going into her retreat, Posy was cleansed with lemon zest and peach scrub, soaked in water with skin softening caviar, shampooed and conditioned her hair with rare fruit oil, and finally, rubbed all over with olive-peach oil and shaved bare. Then, she slipped into the calming, fragrant waters, and sighed.  
"Thank you, Kimberly. You are the best friend any girl could have,"  
Posy relayed as her friend forever tucked a small rose behind her ear.  
"Now, continue,"  
Kimberly purred while stroking her friend's lusciously soft, fruity-smelling hair.  
Posy continued about how she had started to float a few inches above the floor, and being pelted with food for putting the flyers in people's lockers.  
"And I wanted to let you know,"  
Posy murmured sleepily  
"What?"  
Kimberly cooed in a sweet, understanding voice.  
"I love you so much, as a friend can,"  
Posy fell asleep as Kimberly's tears dripped down and onto her angelic, sleeping face. 

"What is she doing here?!"  
"Mum, I can explain!"  
It was the middle of the evening, and Kimberly and her mother were sitting around a cozy little fire in the hearth, for it was starting to snow lightly. There were some small, lovely holiday cookies that Kimberly's mother had gotten on sale at the holiday village in central London. Posy was laid out on a silk couch, dressed in a strapless, flowing silver silk nightgown, and covered with a small woolen blanket, her wavy dark hair flowing about her like rivers sliding down her shoulders and the sofa. Her nightgown complemented her pale skin perfectly as if she was a goddess. Her school clothes were laid out, completely more elegant than before (if you can call a uniform elegant, that is).  
"Mum, she came here. She said she was hovering a few inches off the ground, but she wasn't jumping. She was literally floating like a kite."  
Her mother, her mouth frozen in mid speech, was stunned. This went on for another minute before her mum gasped.  
"I've got to call Emily. She won't believe it at all."  
"Mum, you mean you've seen her hover?"  
"Yes, my dear. It was when you and Posy meet the Hung sisters. It was…"  
Her mother started to tell the story of the meeting. Soon, Kimberly started to cry.  
"Mum, why didn't you tell me her fate?"  
she sobbed  
"She was not the only one. Soon aft, you would be in your crib one moment, then the next, you'd either be gone, or sitting right next to me. It was so queer. Then I started getting calls about the Hung girls singing songs, ancient, modern, choir, any song. And they could not even utter a word." She shuddered.  
"I can still their voices singing a heart-breaking choir song that made even the happiest soul start to weep with sorrow."  
"Mum," Kimberly said, before teleporting to the other side of the room to give her mother a kiss.  
"I love you. Good night."

And with that, Kimberly teleported up to her room.

I5. Days of Joy

n the misty dawn light, Posy slept peacefully. She was dreaming. She was in a familiar room that she knew very well. Then it clicked.  
She was in the Hung's coffee room.  
She watched as Mr. Hung rushed around with coffee and biscuits. She took notice of six babies, her mother holding one, Kimberly's mother holding one, and Mrs. Hung holding four little cooing bundles. Her mother was murmuring to one of the hot pink blankets  
"…hush, Posy, Mummy's here,"  
Posy felt like she was hit with a thousand kilograms of bricks.  
This was her when she was only four days old.

She watched as all the other mothers raced off to change diapers, leaving Posy and her mum alone.  
"Ah, little one. You are your mummy's little angel, yes you…"  
her mum faded as her daughter started to hover.  
"OH MY GOD!" she shouted.  
The other mums came rushing in, asking what was wrong, but when they saw little Posy Ann McWilliams floating like an angel, they gasped.  
"Natalie, you know her fate, right?"  
Mrs. Stanford queried.  
"No, that is just some bloody lie. She is not the chosen one."  
"But the prophecy says  
_Eight girls in London, America and Icland, all bright and clear,  
Will grow up as the end draws near,  
They will fight for the end,  
For hand in hand,  
They will never let the world end here._"  
"I know what the damn prophecy says, it's just-"  
She hugged Posy tight and started to sob.

"-I don't want her to die defending us from…aliens. Or other monsters. We will raise our girls like normal human beings, unknown of their powers, safe and happy."  
"But her end is nearing, Natalie. Do not forget that."  
With that, Mrs. Stanford blinked out of the room like an old light needing a replacement.

Then Mrs. McWilliams sobbed into the bright pink bundle, causing the baby within to bawl.  
Posy bolted awake as she rolled off the sofa.  
"Ow!" she cried as she hit the floor. She realized she was wearing something. She looked down to find a silver silk gown on her. Her gown glowed like moonlight. She remembered that prevouis day and ran out of the Stanford House and into her room. 

A FEW WEEKS LATER…

"My God! You got in, Posy! Asheville sent this!"  
Posy's mother shoved an important-looking packet into Posy's arms. After reading over the acceptance letter with a beaming smile, Posy looked at the packet's dress code policy.

**Dress Code  
**_Our goal is to maintain criteria for dress and grooming that fosters pride in self and respect for School standards. Students are expected to dress in clean neat clothing that fit well and are in good repair, modest in style and appropriate for the occasion. An unkempt appearance and/or extremes of dress or appearance are not acceptable at Asheville School. Appropriateness of dress is at the sole discretion of the administration/faculty. The School has three categories to its dress code:_

_Classroom Dress – worn throughout the academic day from breakfast until the end of the last class period, and at all community events such as seated meals, Chapels/Vespers, Required Convocations, etc._

_Spirit Dress – worn on Tuesdays and at other times when announced_

_Town Dress – worn during free time when not otherwise wearing Classroom or Spirit Dress_

_Boys__  
Shirts__**  
**__Only dress, collared, designed-to-be-worn-with-a-tie shirts with long or short sleeves are to be worn for classroom dress. Shirts must be tucked in at all times and must be buttoned all the way to and including the neck button. Shirts must be a loose fit and may not be manufactured primarily with lycra or spandex. No corduroy, denim or flannel material._

_Ties__**  
**__Ties must be worn properly tied at the neck. Long or bow ties are acceptable. No bolo ties or ascots may be worn._

_Pants  
Dress Pants made of a cotton, cotton blend, wool, or wool blend fabric are required for classroom dress. Pants must be a dress pant fit – no form fitting, tight, jean-cut, cargo, painter-style, hip hugger, denim, spandex, or Capri pants are allowed. Pants must be worn at the waist and must be worn with a belt._

_Blazers  
Blazers or sport coats must be of a professional style. No zippers, leather, suede, imitation leather or suede, denim, neoprene, fleece, Pea Coats, sweaters or outer wear jackets may be worn in place of a blazer of sport coat. Suits may be worn.  
__**  
**__Shoes  
Dress shoes with dress socks must be worn. Birkenstock-type clogs are acceptable if worn with dress socks._

_**Girls**_

_Shirts  
Only dress, collared, "designed-to-be-worn-with-a-tie" shirts with long or short sleeves are to be worn for classroom dress. Girls do not wear ties but may wear dress scarves. Shirts must be tucked in at all times and must be buttoned all the way except the neck button. Shirts must be a loose fit and may not be manufactured primarily with lycra or spandex. No corduroy, denim or flannel material._

_Blazers  
Blazers or sport coats must be of a professional style. No zippers, leather, suede, imitation leather or suede, denim, neoprene, fleece, Pea Coats, sweaters, or outerwear jackets may be worn in place of a blazer or sport coat. Suits may be worn._

_Pants  
Dress Pants made of a cotton, cotton blend, wool, or wool blend fabric are required for classroom dress. Pants must be a dress pant fit – no form-fitting, tight, jean-cut, cargo, painter-style, hip hugger, denim, lycra, spandex, or Capri pants are allowed. Pants must be worn with a belt._

_Skirts  
In place of dress pants, girls may wear skirts that are appropriate to be worn with a tucked-in dress shirt. Skirts must be of the type that would be appropriate for a professional job (bank or legal office) interview. The skirts must be below the knee or under no circumstances shorter than the knee. Any slits or kick pleats must not be above the knee. Skirts must be a dress skirt fit – no form-fitting, tight skirts are allowed. Denim skirts are not allowed, and skirts may not be manufactured primarily with lycra or spandex._

_Sweaters  
Professional looking, cardigan sweaters may be worn with dresses. Sweaters and also sweater vests may be worn with a collared shirt in combination with skirts and pants but may not be substituted for a blazer. Sweaters may not have zippers or hoods. Sweaters may be crew neck or v-heck pullovers or dress cardigans. Twin sets are not allowed._

_Shoes  
Shoes must be a conservative, dress shoe. No flip-flops, cowboy boots, moccasins or house slippers may be worn. Heels must be no greater than 2 inches. Girls are not required to wear socks except when wearing any shoe that is typical of what a boy might wear (Birkenstocks, boat shoes, etc.)._

_Dresses  
Wearing dresses is a privilege within the confines of Classroom Dress. While girls may choose to wear dresses, choosing to do so exposes girls to a more particular scrutiny. If there is any doubt, girls should choose to wear dress pants or skirts. The privilege of wearing a dress during classroom dress times may be revoked at the discretion of the Student Affairs Office._

Dresses must be of the type that would be appropriate for a professional job (bank or legal office) interview. Not only must the décolletages be conservative, but also while standing OR SEATED, the dress may only show a modest amount of leg. The dress must hang below the knee or under no circumstances be above the knee. Any slits or kick pleats must not be above the knee.

Dresses must have a shoulder width of at least 2 inches (3 fingers is a good tool). No spaghetti straps, strapless or thin-strapped dresses are allowed.

_Dresses must be a conservative fit – no form-fitting, tight dresses are allowed. Denim, flannel or t-shirt material dresses are not allowed, and dresses may not be manufactured primarily with lycra or spandex._

Dresses may not have any visible cleavage. Dresses that require camisoles or undershirts in order to cover cleavage are not acceptable.

_**All**_

_Blouses and shirts must be of a length to tuck in and must be tucked in at all times._

_All pants and skirts must be hemmed._

_Blazers may be removed while attending classes._

_No tank tops, baseball caps, athletic shoes, flip-flops, shower or bedroom shoes_

_No "costumes" or radical clothing_

_No denim, leather, suede, imitation leather or suede, flannel, work-shirts, or polo-type shirts_

_No work boots, hiking boots or Doc Marten-type boots_

_No outerwear_

_No boots unless they are worn for warmth when winter temperatures are predicted to be near freezing_

_No Cowboy boots or "Ugg" boots with dresses or skirts_

_No athletic wear_

_No sweatshirts_

_Town Dress_

_Town dress is casual clothing that students would wear during their free time. Town dress does not ever allow patched, tattered, cut, torn, or frayed pants or shirts. Students may not wear pajamas as a part of town dress; pajamas stay on the dormitory halls._

Town dress includes jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, athletic shoes, flip-flops, etc. An unkempt appearance and/or extremes of dress or appearance are not acceptable; students are expected to dress in clothing that fits well, is in good repair, and is modest in style.

_Spirit Dress_

_Spirit Dress is simple. An Official Asheville School t-shirt or sweatshirt on top with Jeans or Khaki pants on the bottom. No shorts, no sweatpants. Only full length jeans or khakis with an Asheville School top._

No non-Asheville School outerwear may be worn over the Asheville School t-shirt/sweatshirt. The logo must be showing hence promoting School Spirit. Violators will lose the privilege of wearing spirit dress on future spirit dress days.

_General Appearance_

_Clothing or accessories with printed statements or symbols referring to drugs or alcohol, or containing racist, sexist, sexual, insensitive or divisive remarks may never be worn._

_Boys may not wear earrings at any time. Other forms of body piercing are prohibited._

_Girls may wear earrings only in their ears. Other forms of body piercing are prohibited._

_Students may not have any visible tattoos._

_Students may not wear tattered, torn, cut, patched, or frayed clothing at any time._

_Undergarments should never be visible (bra straps, boxers, etc.)_

_Students are expected to enter Sharp Dining Hall, Mitchell Hall, and Skinner Library well groomed._

_Any radical hairstyle is prohibited (e.g. a bald or partially shaven head, punk style, or inappropriately bleached or colored hair)._

_Hair must remain within a slight variation of the person's natural color._

_For boys, hair must be combed and neat. Hair should fall above chin level when hanging freely and must stay out of the face._

_No facial hair._

_Consequences for Dress Code Violations_

_The consequence for a dress code violation is 5 demerits._

_The consequences for hair violations include restriction to campus and a visit to a school-chosen barber.  
_There was a lot to know. _This dress code is even stricter than EH,_ she thought. Posy sat down and leafed through the supplies list.

_(Many of these items are also available in the School bookstore)_

_pens, pencils, erasers (with a pencil bag/pouch)_

_starter supply of paper (lined and graph)_

_3-ring binders: D ring with clear cover pocket on front (1.5")_

_a few spiral notebooks_

_assignment book (the Asheville School planner available in the bookstore upon arrival)_

_dictionary and thesaurus_

_seat cushion for desk chair_

_desk lamp_

_ruler_

_backpack (wide enough to carry a few textbooks and binders at the same time)_

_index cards (3 x 5) for flash cards or a box of blank flash cards_

_large desk or wall calendar for the academic year_

_water bottle  
_Then she looked to the personal supplies_.  
Comforts_

_overstuffed pillow_

_stereo/iPods/mp3 players_

_decorations for room (posters, pictures of family, small plants)_

_alarm clock_

_wrist watch_

_a comfortable chair for reading or lounging (optional)_

_a window fan_

_a flashlight_

_batteries_

_Miscellaneous_

_stationary, envelopes, stamps_

_address book or Palm Pilot_

_posters (must be put up with "FUNTAC" – no nails or tape)_

_plastic drinking cup, fork, knife, spoon, mug_

_Please __DO NOT__ bring irons, hot plates, or other heating elements!_

_Then, she looked at the hygiene list.  
__Personal Hygiene_

_large bottles of shampoo and conditioner_

_hair care supplies_

_shower caddy to carry soap/shampoo etc. to the shower_

_shower shoes like flip-flops_

_toothpaste, toothbrush (and don't forget to floss!)_

_personal and toilet items: soap, Band-Aids, Alka-Seltzer, Neosporin, Tylenol, Advil, shaving supplies or electric shaver, feminine hygiene products, deodorant, etc._

Then lastly, there was the linens sheet. _These people are very demanding_, she thought.  
_Linens and Things_

_bed linens & pillow_

_curtains, blinds and screens (recommend you purchase after check-in).  
Window Sizes:_

_in 1st Lawrence 96 x 84_

_in 1st Anderson 48 x 72_

_2nd & 3rd Lawrence and 2nd & 3rd Anderson_

_(single) 48 x 63 (double) 96 x 63_

_in Kehaya (inside dimensions) 64 x 64 (rod to floor - 95")_

_towels and washcloths_

_comforter/blanket_

_laundry bag_

_laundry detergent_

_dryer sheets_

"I need to tell Kimberly about this. Be right back, Mum. Take a look over these lists. Bye!"  
Soon Posy went into Kimberly's room and showed her the acceptance letter.  
"Oh, my. Congrats! I got in, too!"  
Kimberly cried as she grabbed some leftover eggnog and poured it into 2 glasses.  
"A toast to getting into America!"

_**6 months later…**_

6. Let's go to Asheville!

M

y, my, Kimberly. You got in, too!" Hannah exclaimed. It was the last day of school, and they were going to leave early to go shopping. All of the Hung sisters had gotten in.  
"I have waited for this day, and now it's here!" Diana Hung cried. They went to math class in silence as the headmaster came round the corner. They hustled by fretfully, but as they were walking, they were flattened against a wall, and a graceful but haunting hand slid over all their chests.  
"Hi, girls," Sierra purred like a Persian kitten on its napping cycle "love the loser outfits. Didya get them at a cheap garage sale?"  
"Maybe we should be asking you that question," Posy spat with anger, her eyes sizzling. Sierra turned scarlet and looked down at her lame plaid jumper as the six girls continued their walk to math class in Juicy Couture and DKNY. Soon after reviewing algebra and all those annoying x3+y=2z math problems, their exams were being passed out, and just as they were starting them, the six fashionistas were called for early dismissal. The teacher was vaguely disappointed, but let them go. Soon they were all packed up and walked to the curb where a limousine was waiting.  
"Where to, Miz Kimberly?" the driver questioned impatiently.  
"Um, Westfield _London_ Shopping _Centre, on the double, please."  
The driver hit the gas as the girls got in.  
"OH!" they cried as they flew, sending designer jeans and Rimmel lip-gloss upwards.  
"The address, Miss?"  
"_Unit 4006 Ariel Way, please."  
"We're here."  
"Do you have the lists, Nicole?"  
"Yes, Posy."  
"Let's go!"  
As soon as they passed through the huge doors, they were whipped in with the glitter and sparkling of the mall.  
"Wowza, it's like that American 3 Musketeers bar, dipped in dark Dove chocolate. All the good things compressed into one small cube, or mall in this case."  
"Stop blathering, Posy. Must we go shopping?"  
"Sorry, Kimberly. I'm very excited."  
"Well, let's go!"  
Soon, everyone was spread out looking for bed linens, duvets and covers, shampoo and conditioner, soap, pads, new clothes, toothpaste, chairs, fans, posters of One Direction, towels, pillows, make-up, laundry bags, detergent, dryer sheets, and the other necessarites.  
"Let's go over to my place!" cried Kimberly after four and a half hours. Three hours later, the furniture was delivered and the Stanfords scheduled for the furniture to be put on a cargo plane bound for the States in September. Kimberly decided to give everyone a treat after all that hard work.  
"Oh," Nicole sighed as she slid into the fragrant bath waters, and lay there as she and her friends read their special guides on boys, _How to Make a Boyfriend/Girlfriend from the States_ by Lane Hake.  
_**How to Start a Relationship with a Boy from the States  
**__So, you caught his eye, and he caught yours. Now, what to do? Well, first things first, don't make yourself look like a ninny (duh!). You should look presentable, not like the women in the 18__th__ and 19__th__ centuries, in their corsets and hoopskirts, but modern dress. Your style should reflect off of him, depending on the boy's style. Let's say he's a Goth and you're a regular girl. Then wear your usual outfit, but it should got together with something like black as night eyeliner, black nail polish and plum lipstick. If he's your typical blond, blue-eyed teen, and you're a Goth, then, well, sorry hon, but the relationship is about as good as tuna sitting in a Dumpster for a year, and your styles are just about related as Kit Kats are to hot dogs. But if you're a blond, blue-eyed teen and he's the same, it's a perfect match, like two puzzle pieces fitting into place. So, if I ranked your match thumbs up, then read on. This next page can detect the relationship status and turn invisible if you're ranked no, so don't even try!  
_The next page for everyone was visible, so they read on. Kimberly made a few edits to her pages.  
_**Tips for a Strong Relationship: Yes and No's for a Great Love Life!**_

DO: Treat him like Heaven. If he treats you like dirt something smeared on the bottom of his shoe, then break up. No one likes a boyfriend like that.

DON'T: Give him sass. You'd just be about as good without him.

DO: Give him sSomething with him every once in a while. He'll do the same exact thing (not object) but give you do something with you.

DON'T: Let him drink, unless you and him are 21 or over. Drunk boyfriends are bad boyfriends.

DO: Love him! If not, there's no point in having a boyfriend

DO: Have fun!

"Dinner!" the butler cried as he came in, carrying six plates of sushi: salmon, tuna California, Seattle, Toro, Salmon Roe, flying fish roe, and many others; mashed potatoes, creamy baked potatoes, extra salt and butter and mango milkcreamshakes. "Thank you, Mario," Kimberly said as she handed him a 20 pence piece, glad she was wearing a swim suit, not having to put a washcloth over her breasts.  
The girls sat up as they grabbed the food trays and had Mario put their plates on the trays and left. The girls gobbled down the sushi greedily, saving a little bit for the brazier, where they burnt offerings to gods of other places, such as Greek, Egyptian, and other gods. The baked potato and mashed potatoes were heavenly, and the sushi was fatty and sweet. As Rachel cast in her bit, she murmured, "Oh, Anubis, pair me with a boy in the U.S." An hour later, everyone was resting in a warm blanket and a clean nightgown, and slippers and socks as warm as a sunny summer afternoon. The beds were like pudding-as soon as Nicole got into her bed, she sank about 30 centimeters into the warm bed.  
"Help here?" she laughed, but was followed but silence. The heat coursing from the bed was too much for her relaxed body. As she slowly fell asleep, she felt the most peculiar feeling of a kiss on her forehead and a heavy but warm blanket fall over her body.  
Only later she realized it was a kiss from an angel.

7. All Aboard The Stanford Express

H

ey, Posy, do you have your candy?" Diana asked. It was September 23rd, two days before school started.  
"Check!"  
"Rimmel make up?"  
"Check!"  
"Your-"  
"Honestly, Diana, I've been over everything last night with my mum!"  
"Okay, Posy. Let's check on Kimberly, then."  
It turned out everyone had everything they needed. Soon, their mums and dads were kissed and all the girls promised to come home for the holidays, which caused Mrs. Stanford to start humming "Home for the Holidays", and got a "Mum!" from Kimberly and a laugh from everyone else, which made everyone check their CD cases for their holiday discs. Soon, the limo was bumping away to the Hungs to get their luggage.  
"I'm wondering, Diana. Do you have your phone with you? I left mine in my purse and I can't find it. I need you to look up the weather in Asheville."  
Slowly, Diana tapped in the state and city, and a few seconds later, the weather icon blinked open.  
"Hey, Diana, when did you that iPhone?"  
"I got at the mall, Nicole."  
"I bought everyone a new phone, iPod, iPad, iPad mini and a new MacBook Pro," Kimberly said as she took out a 6 pack of iPhones, iPod Nanos, iPod Touches, iPads, iPad minis, and MacBook Pros from her one of ten suitcases.  
"There was a clearance sale."  
"Oh, Kimberly!" Diana cooed, blushing. "You are too good to be true!" Then she texted her mom.  
_Kimberly got us Apple things. Sez there wuz a clearance sale. She's 2 güd 2 be tru, huh? :)_  
"Does everyone have a fair amount of Rimmel Sapphire Foundation?"  
"I hear they have it in America, miss, at a store called Walgreens and another one called Macy's," the butler offered listless.  
"Thank you, Mario. I will look for this Walgreens."  
"Miss, we are at the Hungs mansion."  
"Thank you. I guess you know the drill, right? Do you need any help?"  
"These suitcases weigh more than you do, girl. You would not be able to lift them. Here, try."  
"Well excuse me!" Kimberly exclaimed in mock defensiveness, giggling. "I weigh a respectful 44.5 kilograms, Mario!"  
Kimberly tried to lift one of Hannah's duffel bags. Mario was right. It was like holding up the sky. Her face turned red, and her face started sweating, taking off the make up. _At least her face isn't ugly like Pertain Talisman's_, Posy thought as Kimberly dropped the duffel bag on her Prada heeled boot-clad toe.  
"For the love of Ra!" Kimberly shrieked, falling backwards. Diana swooped in to the rescue and caught her friend like she was a china plate.  
"Thanks," Kimberly grunted.  
"Good save, Diana!" her mother shouted.  
"¡Buen trabajo, Diana!" her father said, which meant the same thing as his wife. Her father who-even though he was 1/3 Chinese-grew up in a Spanish-speaking household with 5 other brothers and sisters. However, he also knew English, Italian, German and Chinese, but prefered Spanish. After the hugs and kisses had been sent out and holiday homecoming had been promised, and again, they were bumping down the road to the London Biggin Hill Airport, aka BQH. After they got through security, they came to the concourse. The walkways were swarming people talking in a bazillion different languages, businessmen yakking away on their Androids (which were so last season, according to a international survey that more people used iPhones than any other phone.), young mothers dragging whiney, snot-nosed, fat-faced, lollypop-wielding bratty toddlers around, travelers sipping their lattes with no rush, and of course, the old people dressed in Hawaiian shirts and shorts, trying to look younger.  
"Ew! They look gross! I mean-"  
Posy started before the intercom started bellowing.  
"Ms. Kimberly A. Stanford, please report to the private charter station A13, Ms. Kimberly Stanford, please report to the charter station immediately, thank you."  
It crackled and became silent again. Everyone was dead quiet, looking for the beautiful Kimberly A. Stanford. Even the old people stopped and scratched their heads. In the silence that followed, Kimberly and her friends quickly ran through it to the charter gate.  
"That was close," Kimberly said, tossing back her long red hair from her green eyes.  
"Ms. Stanford, I presume?"  
said the man at the charter gate.  
"I-um-yes, I'm Kimberly!"  
she stuttered.  
"Come, come, come. This is your parent's private jet. I'm Captain Fred Randolph Jr."  
"Pleased to meet you. This is Posy, Rachel, Diana, Nicole and Hannah. We're taking a flight to New York, then to Asheville."  
"Come aboard, I'll show you all of the plane's special features."  
Time went by as the captain showed them the disco ball, mini bar, fridge, freezer, the shower, bath, and of course, the mini spa.  
"Okay, girls, here's the drill. You have to stay in your seats until I say so. Okay?"  
"Got it," they muttered.  
The taxi down the runway wrecked havoc on poor Nicole's stomach. She ran into the bathroom and brought up the contents of her breakfast. Inside of all the bread and cereal, she saw something glint. She reached in and grabbed the thing and took it out. It was a cameo pin, her mother's cameo pin. That's when the plane pitched upwards and off the ground, causing her to fall forward and her boots to make her skyrocket. She slammed in into a wall and she felt dizzy because her face was in the toilet. She vomited again. Then she flushed the toilet and wiped her face with a soft wet cloth, and reapplied her makeup. Her foundation gave her skin a gentle glow as she applied a little bit of a bronzer to her face, spritzed bronzing hair mist into her hair and applied her bronze-gold palette to give her the impression of a goddess, and she put on a coral lip-gloss that she had put a sprinkle of bronzer inside the tube. She looked at herself vanily in the vanity. Her hair, usually straight, had curled into a wave at the bottom part, and her black hair gave off a golden glow that only a goddess could muster. Her eyes were alluring, so beautiful she hypnotized her own reflection!  
"Uh-huh-hi. I am Nichole, what is-"  
"Nicole, are you in her?" Diana demanded, banging on the locked door with her fists and heels. That snapped Nicole back into reality.  
"Just a sec, Diana. The taxi down the runway made my stomach go berserk. I puked and found Mum's cameo pin in it."  
"Ew, TMI, sister. A, you didn't swallow that pin. I know you are not a compulsive jewelry swallower, whatsoever. B, Mum texted me and is raving about where the pin is. And C-"  
"Nice to see you too. Now, I'm hungry. I want an inflight meal."

8. The Curses

W

e will be landing in New York in an half an hour," Captain Randolph's voice crackled on the intercom. Posy was choosing out an outfit, Justice League with Tory Burch, a classic "It's me and I know!" outfit, a slim pencil skirt with leggings underneath, a nice, crisp white blouse, with a nice cashmere sweater that smelled faintly like DKNY Delicious: light green apples with a twist of cinnamon, nutmeg and pine trees. Seated in a pretty flowered hat and jean shorts was Diana. Hannah wore ankle boots, a floppy hat, crisp white pants and a dark red blouse. She had curled the ends of her hair and dyed them a dark blood color to match her blouse. Nicole was sporting a goddess look in a short white dress, gold heeled sandals, bronze tinted hair and skin and make up to match.  
"Just don't look at me, or you'll be hypnotized by me. I hypnotized my own reflection,"  
Nicole had said prior to dressing. Rachel was going on an opal roll with a sheer, short, iridescent gown, opal earrings, opal necklace, and an American makeup brand eye shadow called Maybelline New York in Opal Lights. Her gauzy gown was topped of with a small opal tiara that was 10% opal and 90% silver. Kimberly was dressed to kill in a leather jacket, combat boots, jeans and an opal bangle. As they were looking around the airport, Rachel was being bowed to by everyone. Then she started to shudder like a table in an earthquake.  
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Kimberly gasped.  
Rachel got up and opened her mouth to speak, but instead of saying things, she sung a clear, high note. Then she started to sing a heart-wrenching song of death.

"Rachel?" Kimberly sniffled as her sisters came up to join her, silently, as everyone was entranced by a bunch of British girls singing about some bloke in a black cloak with a scythe in hand, severing human souls. The whole concourse was silent, except for the sniffles and sobs of adults.  
Posy sobbed violently into her handkerchief with sorrow.  
"Posy, let's give-give them a happy song to s-sing," Kimberly sniffed.  
"Okay, Kimberly." They went up and began to sing.  
Soon, one by one, everyone joined in to the merry song, until it sounded like a choir. The girls sung the higher notes and ended holding Rachel on their shoulders. The crowd went wild as they rushed away with Rachel.  
"What the hell was that about, Rachel? You embarrassed us!" Posy hissed.  
"I-I don't know."  
"Oh, come off! You know perfectly bloody well why the hell you did it!"  
"Uh, buh-"  
"STOP!" Kimberly's voice sounded like a gong, ringing through the silence of the JFK airport.  
"I-I know why they do it," she spat, her eyes flashing viciously like a cat's before a kill. "They-we are the saviors of the world. We will save the world together. Hand in hand."  
Her friends looked at her like she was a crazy alien mix dropped off from another planet, then began to laugh, but Kimberly held her glare fiercely, her green eyes flickering like fire, steadily growing brighter until-  
"DUCK!" Posy screamed as a beam of green and gold fire shot out of Kimberly's eyes, blowing up part of the concourse as she raged.  
"BOW BEFORE ME, PUNY HUMANS!"  
she screeched. Everyone screamed as green-gold flames licked up the sides of the walls of the various shops and engulfed some of the gates. Then the police began to show up, evacuating everyone and firing at her.  
"KIMBERLY!" her friends screamed as a bullet met her forehead and she slunk down to the ground, moaning in pain. Quickly, quietly and swiftly, all while dodging bullets, they got to their severely wounded young friend. As fast as their heels and skirts could go, they ran to the slightly charred charter station and wasted no time running to the plane and taking off, and until the situation was resolved, they never wanting to step foot on the Big Apple's ground again.

9. Welcoming Mates

N

icole sighed as she dabbed at Kimberly's gapping wound with a small washcloth. They had been up in the air for at least an hour. A doctor they kept on board for extreme emergencies had successfully moved the bullet and she had no shattered skull at all. She had put some anti-infection powder on Kimberly's head, which caused her friend to groan in pain and shiver. She had on a nightgown that looked like it was woven from pure sunlight. It matched her hair flawlessly, but in truth, it also, unfortunately, went along with her wound. Soon, Kimberly was put into her bed to rest her eyes. Nicole ran into Rachel's room, slipped on her opal dress, and flounced around randomly.  
"Nicole, take that off!" Rachel snapped. She was in a bad mood ever since she got her own friend hurt, and nothing, not even apple cider or applesauce cookies could cheer her up.  
"We will be landing in five minutes," Captain Randolph said "at the Asheville Regoinal Airport."  
"We must rouse Kimberly!" Diana cried, dropping her book on the sill and rushing to Kimberly's bedroom. 

Kimberly was dreaming.  
Her mum was floating on a cushion and her friends were riding on black ponies the size of a blimp, and there was a circus going on on her front porch. But as she transferred into her next stage of sleep, she saw six girls fighting in…egad, was that New York? They seemed to be fighting a strange race of aliens with machetes and special state of the art weapons.  
"You humans crave power, and what do we get? A lot of puny playthings that die off like plants!" screamed a human wielding a scepter and a crown.  
"No, you will hold your ground!" one of the girls cried in a strong voice that shocked Kimberly.  
It was her.  
Her dream self thrusted her spear at the nearest alien and Kimberly bolted awake.  
"Kimberly!" Diana shrieked, startling Kimberly out of bed "We're landing in a couple minutes, so get dressed and-oh my god, what happened to-to your head?"  
Kimberly's hand went straight to her forehead, yet she didn't feel even a scab on her head. Quickly, she ran to the nearest mirror and gasped. Nothing, not even a scar was present. Then she pulled on a cute sundress and a cute hat and pumps and applied blue-gold eye shadow with foundation, blush and sweet pink lipstick. She walked off the plane and had the butler get and load their things into his rental limo. The girl's bodies were exhausted with fatigue, so the butler drove off an exit to a Comfort Inn. He booked the best suite they had that was available. Soon everyone was sound asleep but Kimberly. She was listening to some country music and looking fondly at the radio. She listened to some band called Lady Antebellum singing and a man rocking out on an acoustic guitar. Then it stopped and changed to a band called Love and Theft, who played a song about angel eyes and whiskey. Then she knew which instrument she wanted to play.  
She got out a guitar and began to sing

"Wake up!" Kimberly head Diana call "Where are you-oh h-holy shit, Kimberly, what the hell?"  
Kimberly's eyes clicked open as she hit her head on the bars of the deck.  
"OW!" she shrieked as she jumped back. She was on the deck of their suite, overlooking a vast lot of buildings and parking valets with overnight parking. The guitar was plastered to her side, and she realized how much it hurt. She then got up and looked at her weather app. It said it would be 89 degrees Fahrenheit that day for the whole day.  
"Okay guys," Kimberly started once everyone was roused and cleaned "it's going to be at least 80 degrees today, so dress lightly. And breakfast is in 20 minutes, so get snappy." And with that, everyone got ready. Kimberly slipped on the same outfit as the previous day and did all her makeup and jewelry. Once she looked at herself and squeaked. Her face looked like a goddess', with that pretty bronze look and makeup. But what really set the look was her lipstick, sweet pink and glossy with a little bronzer crushed into it from Nicole. Her eyes were eye popping with a little bronzer and gold and blue eye shadow. It all went along surprisingly well with her dress, a white one that fell about an inch under her knee, which went along with the Asheville School dress code. Her jewelry glinted with gold and opals adorning her neck. Her casmere sweater was a nice light shade of gray, and her hair was curled and set into a small Greek hairstyle that made her look awesome with a gold and opal hairpiece. Her white and gray purse was packed with pads, makeup, hairpieces, and fake tan spray. They ate breakfast quickly and got back on the road. According to the GPS system, they would be in Asheville in half in an hour.  
"Kimberly, you look _and_ smell like Heaven. Where ever did you find it?"  
"I made it with pine and nutmeg. It's called Je Sens Approache de Noel. You all can try some if you'd like. It's…alluring. You'll smell like Christmas for the whole day, though. I tried to spray my whole body with it, and I ended up smelling like a Christmas tree for the whole day."  
"So THAT'S why the classroom started to reek of Christmas!" exclaimed Nicole, running her fingers over her hair and pounding her face furiously with bronzer until she looked like an exotic statue of a minor Greek hippie goddess while they gave each other dares to do in their mini Truth or Dare game. Everyone roared as Nicole yelled out the window,

"Hey, yo! I'm an exotic talking hippie statue. WAHOO!"  
She acciendently caught the attention of a young boy who was driving along and screamed, his eyes bugging out of his head. His mother slammed on the brakes while shouting "Danny, damn you! What the hell is it?"  
"I-I saw an exotic hippie statue. She was talking."  
"Oh that's nice dear. Just shut up now and let me keep on driving. I need to get Tracy to Asheville School."

"We're here!" Hannah shrieked with joy as she climbed out of the limo with a few jealous Southern girls glaring at her. Posy couldn't blame them. It's not like everyday they saw some rich girls getting out to go to school. Posy was rocking a short but appropriate white tulle gown with silver sleeves and ankle boots and a straw hat that made her look like a cowgirl's maid of honor. Her make up consisted of bright red lipstick, blue eye shadow that made her gray eyes blue, foundation, and bright pink blush, and a dash of Kimberly's perfume, Je Sens Approache de Noël. She had started to smell like a living air freshener about an hour ago. _Luckily, I'm wearing my peppermint deodorant, so it goes along,_ Posy thought as two blond girls walked by. One of them squealed  
"Eww, why does it reek of Christmas in here? It's only September!"  
"Possibly because someone marinated in pine air freshener, Chatlin!" the other girl said, stealing a glance at Nicole. "Oh god, it's her!"  
"Who her, Tracy?" Chatlin asked.  
"That girl that Danny said was an exotic talking hippie statue. She had bronzer plastered all over her face."  
"Hey, Hippie Queen, can you put away the air freshener? That would make my life sooooo much easier, instead of having me to take it from you. Oh wait, I forgot, you marinated in it!" Tracy and Chatlin cackled as Nicole turned white.  
"Oh, damn," she murmured, vibrating like a teakettle coughing steam.  
"What?" Kimberly cried, "Don't listen to that bitch queen. She has a smell that's more bitch than bull."  
"I-I feel a song coming along."  
The girls groaned.  
"Please tell me it's not a death song," Posy begged.  
"No it's not. It's a romance song. IT'S COMING!"  
Then Nicole opened her mouth and sung a note as clear as a piece of ice.  
"_The way you move is like a full-on rainstorm._  
_And I'm a house of cards_.  
_You're the kind of reckless that should send me running_.  
_But I kinda know that I won't get far._  
_And you stood there in front of me.__Just close enough to touch__Close enough to hope you couldn't.__See what I was thinking of__.  
__Drop everything now; meet me in the pouring rain._

_Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain_,  
_'Cause I see sparks fly._ _Whenever you smile._ _'Cause I see sparks fly.  
_ _Whenever you smile._  
_My mind forgets to remind me_ _you're a bad idea._  
_You touch me once and it's really something._  
_You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be_.  
_I'm on my guard for the rest of the world._  
_But with you, I know it's no good._ _And I could wait patiently._ _But I really wish you would_.  
_Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain,__  
__Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain.  
__'Cause I see sparks fly__whenever you smile.__  
__Get me with those green eyes, baby.__As the lights go down._ _Give me something that'll haunt me_ _when you're not around.__  
__'Cause I see sparks fly.__Whenever you smile__.  
__I'll run my fingers through your hair._ _And watch the lights go wild._ _Just keep on keeping your eyes on me_.  
_And lead me up the staircase.__Won't you whisper soft and slow.__I'm captivated by you, baby.  
_ _Like a fireworks show__  
__Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain.__Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain.__'Cause I see sparks fly.__Whenever you smile__.  
__Get me with those green eyes, baby.__As the lights go down.__Give me something that'll haunt me__when you're not around.__  
__'Cause I see sparks fly.__Whenever you smile__.  
__And the sparks fly.__Oh, baby, smile__and the sparks fly."__  
_Nicole had sung with a Southern accent, and everyone around her had stared at her with envy and interest. One of these girls, a girl with platinum blond hair, rushed over to them and asked "Are you those British exchange students from London?"  
"Why, yes, we are!" Kimberly exclaimed excitedly, tucking a thin strand of red hair behind her ear.  
"Your housemother is unable to have you, because her daughter's having her baby, so you will be living here in the dorms. Anna Willows, by the way," she said, flushing as she held out her beautifully manicured hand. Kimberly took it and shook it firmly.  
"Kimberly Stanford, and these are my friends Posy McWilliams, Nicole, Hannah, Rachel and Diana Hung."  
"Come with me."

Those three icy words sent a shiver down everyone's spine.  
"To the dorms, I mean," Anna added quickly as she ran up to one of her friends and asked her to help with their luggage. The confuzzelded girl was about to say no when Anna gave her the big dog-eyed look, and no one the girls knew could refuse _that_. The girl rolled her eyes as she walked over to the pile of suitcases as Anna ran over to them.  
"That's another exchange student, her name's Katla. She's from Iceland," Anna murmured to Rachel, who stood by watching as Katla hefted _three_ of the biggest suitcases in the pile.  
"Well, aren't yeh gonna grab yer things, or did I suddenly become yer personal slave?" she puffed in her rich Icelandic accent as she began to laugh. She was about 15 with a sleek but strong pair of arms and tall and lean with a Florida-looking tan. Right then, she was stuffed into a bright red sundress and toting cat's-eye sunglasses and a small leather handbag to match her crudely made dress. From far away, her dress looked perfectly fine, but once you went closer, you could see threads waving about, tears in the fabric in the back and old, unremovable stains, consisting of coffee, chocolate and grease spots. Of course, Rachel did not have the heart to say that out loud, as that would make a horrid first impression.  
"Hi Katla, I'm Rachel, and this is Posy, Kimberly, Diana, Nicole and Hannah. C'mon, guys, let's get our suitcases," she tittered as she shot a look at her blushing friends.  
"Come now, don't make fools of yourselves. She's very friendly; so don't go round in a pink state. For shame!" Rachel hissed in a shout-whisper. After a few more words of courage and a couple nervous glances in Katla's direction-who was looking at them, a very confused look knitted on her face-they gathered up their luggage and followed Katla and Anna down and out the main building hall, up a gravel road, and into Kehaya House. And just as Katla unlocked the dormitory door, the door just across the way clicked open, and Chatlin and her posse came out.  
"OMG look, it's Katla the Inkerdiably Ugly!" shrieked one of Chatlin's followers, a brunette with a coffee and cream complexion.  
"Chatlin, do you know where my phone is, because this is so going on FACEBOOK!" Tracy squealed, taking out her phone and taking a picture of what was supposed to be of Katla, but all she got was a little dust and a door shut in her face.

"Here we are," Katla announced as she set down the bulky suitcases with a loud thunk as Hannah soaked up the details with her eyes like twin sponges. In this so-called "dorm", there was a small dusty room with an old Victorian bathroom. In the corner, there were ten beds, covered with dusty bed covers and mildewed pillows.  
"Um, how do they expect us to sleep in _this dump_?" Hannah blurted in anger.  
"Hannah!" Rachel chided fiercely, her dark eyes twin pools of menacing black acid pits.  
"As a matter of fact, this is just the beginning," Anna calmly put out as she walked over to three grass rugs, which by then were beyond dead. Right next to the biggest rug-Hannah realized-was a simple light switch and a speaker mounted on the grim, cobwebby wall. Anna dusted away the cobwebs and spoke.  
"Cavete canis," Anna called. Slowly, the rug lifted itself up and on top of one of the others. Then the bricks underneath the switch opened up into a small tube. Then she motioned for Katla to bring everyone's suitcases to the tube as Katla got in.  
"Cavete canis." The tube shot down quickly as the words left Katla's thin, lipsticked lips. As everyone watched all of the suitcases and Katla got off.  
"Well, come on," Anna said as she slipped in. Then she whispered those two words yet again. Two seconds later, they were at an uderground level.  
"So sorry about the condition upstairs. This room has not been used since 2000," Anna explained as she got off with Kimberly.  
"2000! Why has it not been used for the past 13 years?"  
"Well, it's the only dorm in Kehaya House-in the whole school-that has an underground section."  
Kimberly looked up as sunlight coming in thorugh the windows, causing small dust particals of dust to be illumintated as the ever loyal Katla offered to put everyone's things away and Anna led them on a tour.  
"So right now, we're in the bedroom. The beds are all of the most recent design. All Sleep Number beds with poster bed frames. And as you can see-" Anna gestured to a small waterfall cascading down the white marble wall and into a small stream, complete with stepping stones and a small grass bridge that miraculously was starting to perk up as pure, clear spring water flowed underneath-"the water that flows through here is more pure than any other water on Earth, so don't forget to inspect for trash from the last inhabitants, and it's safe to drink and wash your face with, just don't drink from it with a dirty mouth, be sure to brush your teeth before you drink. It's an Asheville tradition that has been going on ever since we found the water. We call it Sanitas per aquas or the health through the waters. We always preform the ceremony to see if Chalchiuhtlicue, the Roman goddess of water, accepts and protects you. More on that later. Now, the next room is the relaxation room." As Anna led them into the tiled room, everyone gasped.  
"Oh my god," said Rachel.  
In the small but unusally warm room, there was a large pool full of warm, steaming water, sudsing with fragrant bubbles. Immediately on the left, there was a small sauna with a fire burning underneath it.  
"What a treat, Anna. Oh, may we?" Kimberly smiled, a meshivous glint in her eyes.  
"Yes. Go on."  
The eight girls stripped down and put on their swim suits and hopped into the pool, causing the water to ripple in soft, bubbly waves of pleasure. They backstrocked, bubbled and relaxed in the soothing waters. Oh, did that not feel good! After a good thirty minutes enjoying themselves, they dried off in the sauna.  
"Oh, my hair isn't crusty!" cried Rachel, smoothing out her red hair with a graceful hand.  
"Okay, then. Next, let's go to the bathroom," Kimberly suggested eagerly. As soon as everyone's hair was dry, Anna led them back through the bedroom and into the bathroom through a small curtian.  
"COOL," was all everyone said.  
There was sink in a corner and a bathtub/jacuzzi and a shower and a couch. The jacuzzi had a jet system with a drink and food service that could create anything they wanted to eat, may it have been orange squash concontrate (Kimberly and Posy's personal favorite) or bananna crepes (Katla's favorite) to Ruby Red's Do-it or Diet Soda (the Huns sister's personal favorite). The sink could also run in different scents of perfume, from Chanel No 5 to White Shoulders colonge. The couch could fold out into a king-sized Sleep Number bed. In couch form, it could become a message couch. The shower had a popout section in the wall that contained scented soaps, shampoo and conditioner, scrub brushes, body wash, body scrub, face wash, facial scrub and oatmeal masks. Kimberly looked at Pantene bottles and Batiste conditioner and was holding it gingerly when a she found the last name on the bottom of the conditioner that caused her to turn pale with shock. "Kimberly? Are you okay?" Hannah queried as she looked at her chalk white face, a look of concern plastered on her face.  
"I'm fine, Hannah. Let's to back to the bedroom and unpack, okay?" she suggested, her color returning to her face slowly.  
"Okay." With that, the seven girls left to continue to unpack, leaving Kimberly alone. After examining it again she set it down over come with shock.  
The bottom of the bottle read  
_Property of Juliet Redford_.

Her mother's name.

10. The Ceremony

M

ay we begin the ceremony, Anna?" Rachel asked after they were done unpacking.  
"Just a moment, please," said Anna as she groped for something, muttering about insence and lighters.  
"Where did it put them? I thought I- aha! There they are!" With that, Anna pulled an ivory incense holder, ten twigs of incense and a cigarette lighter from her blouse pocket.  
"However, before I light all of the twigs, you must clear your minds and think only of clean water and wet your faces with it, barring yourself of any makeup. Done? Good." Then without any further ado, Anna lit a stick of incense and soon the room was thick with the scents of roses and jasmine. Through the smoke and reek of flowers, Diana could see Anna pulling out a small leather-bound book that looked like the Bible that she had on her bookcase at home, except Anna's was gilded with a silver mermaid and water. Diana watched as she flipped through the thick leather, muttering about the ceremony prayer and mumbling about the water goddess. Soon she was on a page, thick with drawings and words that Diana could not make out. Then Anna began her prayer.  
"_Acceptábis sacrifícium tibi, o dea, qui descendit de montibus et fluminibus aqua exeat ex essentia in magicis sacra clarum purumque_," she chanted, all while waving about incense, holding small, water-filled prayer beads and crushing small flowers in the ivory burner, then burning them with the cigarette lighter that Diana also realized was giled with a silver merimaid and Anna's intials, right under the words Follower of Chalchiuhtlicue.

"What is she saying?" Nicole whispered.

"I think she's chanting in Latin," Kimberly said back, eyes wide in admiration.  
"_Puellae tegere voluisti me quoniam multa secum anima eorum ad templum sanctum tuum in loco isto officio mundatos / dormitorium fragrence rosa exspectant olet jasimne in pace. O dea aqua sancta, ostende te hic iuvenes. madiens ostendite signa accepta est aut rei. Benedicite vitam aeternam et alii in circuitu tuo. pax vobis, allelúja__._"

Anna finished with setting down her insence and burner and dumping the ashes of the flowers into the stream and handing the six fuzzyheaded girls small cheese cloth nets emboridered with a lotus flower.  
"Okay, right now, I am going to unleash six holy lotuses into the stream and Chalchiuhtlicue will control the currents to make a lotus float into your net if you're worthy of her. If she rejects you, then she will trick you into trying to catch the flower and make it float out of your reach at the last second, so don't be fooled." Anna went to the alter and plucked six lotus flowers from a pond, nestled on the bottom of the alter and set them in a dish full of clean water and asked the six friends to line up by threes along the banks.  
"On your mark, get set, release!" Anna cried. The six lotus blossoms floated to Diana's net, where Kimberly and Hannah were with her.  
"I got one!" she cried as the blue lotus drifted into her dainty net. Then the remaining flowers seperated into one group of two and three.  
"I got one, too!" shouted Nicole as a snowy lotus took shelter in the flimsy corners of the net.  
"Great scott!" squealed Hannah as a peach colored lotus collieded with her net.  
"Joy!" shrieked Kimberly as a silver lotus swam into her white net.  
"Good God!" Rachel hollered as a hot pink bloom swished into the chessecloth.  
"Yes!" Posy screamed with joy as a purple blossom floated into her emboriered make shift net.  
"_Sancti__vacca_!" Anna cried out as she ushered the girls foreward to give her the lotuses back and put them into six clear glass jars filled with water. As soon as the lotuses hit the surface of the shallow water, the jars turned the color that the lotuses were. For instance, Kimberly's was gleaming silver with her name engraved on it, Diana's was blue and had her name also embossed on the small jar and Nicole's was as white as the Alp Snow in Pompa Zion's milkcreamshakes, with her full name imprinted on the petite jar, along with carvings of moving water and lotus flowers.  
"These jars must rest on the alter by day, and under your beds by night, and you must refresh your jars every day with new water from the stream, or eventually, Chalchiuhtlicue (may she live forevermore) will cease to contact and reject you. You may think it will die soon, following any flower's nature, but with a sprinkle of this dust-" she held up a small pouch with a little bit of sparkly powder -"the lotus will be given eternal life, and it will be your connection to her, and then she may leave blessings and messages for you. Take these, and may Chalchiuhtlicue bless you forever." Anna finished with a whiff of pineapple scented incense as the dinner bell sounded with a clang.  
"Oh, come let's go, I'm starving!" Posy exclaimed as she ran to her closet and tried on a nice pearl colored dress, then waited for her fellow mates to get dressed in clean evening frocks, then departed on their way.

"Okay, here we are," Anna chirped as they arrived at Sharp Dinning Hall, a big dinning hall with lots of tables. Most of the students were already there, and gaped at the late entering of the eight peacocks in their lovely plumage. They ploped down at a table nearest the windows, where a beautiful view presented itself with cherry blossom trees, evergreens and the campus houses. Unfortunatly, they were right next to Chatlin's posse's table.

"Oh my gwad!" Tracy shierked as she dug around in her clutch for her cell phone. Once she got ahold of her iPhone 2, she was prepaing to take a picture of Katla's large, pretty face, take it and post it on Facebook and have the caption say _Her face was so ugly, I had to retouch till I was satistfied. Ha!_ when one of the teachers came over and took the old phone out of Tracy's large, manicured hands.

"I'll take that, thank you very much," she said cooly as Tracy turned the color of a holiday ribbon.

"What the hell-" Tracy spluttered, almost choking on her ice tea.  
"Now, now, none of that, or I will see to it that it will go on your permenant record. Understood?"

"Y-yes, Miz…"

"Ms. Jackson, my dear. Now apologize, or there will be some seroius consequences."  
"Sorry, Katla. I was not going to post your picture on Faceboo-"  
Before Tracy could even finish, Katla rose out of her chair with a creak, stomped over, and without so much as a grunt, she clamped her meaty hand around Tracy's throat and lifted her clean out of her chair.

If stunned silence was an Olympic sport, everyone in the dining hall would've won a gold medal.  
"Listen, girl, quit bein' such a hypocrite or…"

Katla tightned her hand around Tracy's stick of a neck, and she swooned, falling to the ground.  
"'Sokay, folks, she still a-breathin', so keep yer pantyhose on." And with that, she walked back to the table and continued to eat. Everyone was surprised to see a body fallen on the wooden floor . It was as if no one had seen Katla "kill" Tracy.  
"Tracy!" Chatlin screeched and slid off of her seat to her friend, who was slowly breathing.  
"Come," Katla whispered, her eyes flashing like diamonds in mud  
"We need to talk."

"What happened, Katla? It seemed as if no one knew what had happened," Hannah queried. It was 10 o'clock in the evening-an hour past curfew-but none of them were able to sleep but Posy, who was slumbering peacefully in the folds of silk and velvet, lost in Dreamland. It had been three days after the Tracy incident. They had had lots of homework over those three hard, stressful days that had really put their deodorant to the test. Now they were sitting on the grass bridge after another day of gossip, boys and girls drinking behind the school, mean girl cliques at every turn and the cute boys flirting with them all. The cool water was a relief to their feet as they dipped them in the calming water, producing an icy tingle that went up their toes. In a small basket were 24 types of chocolate, ranging from Godiva, Gharrideli and Lindt to Quality Street. In honor of Chalchiuhtlicue, Anna had brought out little oil lamps carved with lotuses and ducks. "On the holy Bible of Chalchiuhtlicue, I don't know," Katla whispered, tears in her eyes. Kimberly patted her on the back as she nibbled on a piece of a Gharrideli dark chocolate square as small but lean Rachel stood up and straightened her silk nightgown and cocked her eyebrow at Katla as if she was a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe.  
"Oh, really? Then how come you wanted to kill her?"  
"I-I don't know. I tried to stop, but some force kept me from doing so. Oh, please, forgive me!" Katla wept as Kimberly rose up from the sofa. Her skin was deathly pale and liquid in the oil lamp's light, as if she couldn't decide what form she wanted.

"She will stay with us. We need a girl like her to protect us, and we value her and her protection. Now, before we wear ourselves out, let's hit the sack."

Kimberly smoothed on the last of her pre-sleep face lotion and put on her Thera-Pearl mask. Just as she slid into her bed, a small, whimpering voice called out.

"Kimberly?"

Hannah sat on her bed, with a small tear running down her face and her phone in her hand.  
"What is it, honey?" Kimberly sighed as took off her mask and walked across the soft carpet.  
"L-look," she said as she started sobbing. Kimberly hugged her gingerly, as if she were a china doll that could break any second soon, and picked up the phone. Hannah had checked her e-mail and an e-mail was open. As Kimberly scanned over it, she started to tear up as well.  
"Oh, no," she murmured, tears running down her cheeks. The e-mail read:

_My dear daughters, family and friends,  
I have some tragic news to share: my husband is dead. It happened in the cup factory when he was pushed over the side by one of his employees, Bert Darnen, and fell into the plastic melter. They resued him before he could go through the melter, but he had fatal burns. The employee that caused this death is now in custody. The trail will take place on December 22__nd__. I am now slowy recovering with the help of Mrs. Jones B. Stanford. To my daughters and close family and friends, the reading of the will will take place at 11:41 am at the Stanford's mansion at pressisly at November 25__th__, 2013. My daughters and their friends, who are unable to make it, will recive a recording, and the items will be shipped to you._

_Sincerely,  
Annaliza Hung_

"Oh, Hannah," she wept as she squeezed her tight and let her weep into her shoulder, carassing her hair with gentle strokes, her nightgown shimmering in the lamplight. Hannah's body shuddered with sobs as she clutched Kimberly tightly. Kimberly put her face in Hannah's mane of bright black hair and inhaled the scent of lemon shampoo and crab apple conditioner.  
"Oh, you poor thing!" Kimberly moaned. Their mourning was so loud and the hall moniters must've heard it, because just then, the alarm started rattling and going off. Quickly, Kimberly grabbed the hand-held moniter and opened the view of camera 001, where a teacher was hammering on the door, and Kimberly pressed the unlock button and the door swooshed open. The teacher stormed in and yelled "Cavete canis!" with a Scotish drawl to it and the rug shot off, in the view of camera 003.  
"Cavete canis!" The evelavator shot up.  
"Hannah, listen," Kimberly whispered through an eyeful of tears. Hannah listened as she mourned her father.  
"A teacher's going down to check on us, and if we're caught, we'll get a years' worth of demerits, so we have to fake it. Get into bed! NOW!"  
She jumped into her bed, rubbed on her night lotion, slapped on her Thera-Pearl mask, grabbed the moniter and shoved it under her pillow, got under the duvet, faked a sleeping positon and closed her eyes just as the moniter squaked "Cavete canis!" once more (she quickly shut it off after that), the elevator arrived and the teacher got off. Kimberly froze, her green eyes widening under the mask, until a proportion of her pupils peeped above the mask. As soon as she peeked, her eyes met an astonishing sight that left her in shock. The teacher was beautiful. Her blond hair was lush, long and flawless, just like her mother's. Her eyes fluttered around the room like light blue raptors, waiting for her next prey. Her lean, thin body was clothed in a Burberry faux snake skin skirt and cream colored blouse that made her look like one of the models on the cover of Teen Vouge U.K. Her eyes were rimmed with pink eyeshadow and wired spectacles with a pearly chain. Her lips were layered with a cheery cherry gloss that gave her outfit an overall merry look with a little pale pink blush. Her eyes swept over the eight figures, still in their beds, except for Hannah's small shape in the corner, her body heaving with sobs. The teacher glided over to her and sat down at the foot of the bed.  
"There, there, there. Are you homesick?" she asked. Just the sound of her voice filled Kimberly with a good feeling, like after you had had a strong cup of tea. Hannah raised her tear-stained face out of the pillow and looked into those identical pools of blue. She stared for a moment before she realized what was happening. She broke down in a fresh round of tears as the teacher held her and smoothed her hair. Hannah sighed shakily.  
"I-I found o-o-out th-th-th-that my d-d-dad-dy j-just d-d-d-died-" was all she managed before her sadness took over.  
"I'm Ms. Kingsley and I am your Homemakers' teacher. Here, allow me to sing to you." Ms. Kingsely took a deep breath in and began to sing a throaty Scotish lullaby. A minute later, Hannah gave one final shaky sigh and closed her eyes. Ms. Kingsely gave Hannah's forehead a slight peck and turned her hawk eyes onto Kimberly's eyes.  
"She's your age, eh?" she asked with a wink of her friendly eyes.  
Kimberly shot up, ripped off her mask and jumped out of bed in shock.  
"Th-thank you, Ms. Kingsley. I-"

"Please, call me Kelsie, sweetheart-"  
"-I would like it if you told the headmaster what happened to my poor friend and her sisters, Kelsie, and I would also like it if you all let us have the day off to help them recover, please? We will come to your class, though." Kimberly's eyes turned large and sad and her mouth sagged at the corners, and a tear slid down her pink cheek, partly since she was in awe of her teacher's beauty and didn't want her to say no, and partly mourning Mr. Hung.  
"And our names are Kimberly, Posy, Anna, Katla, Nicole, Diana, Rachel and Hannah, and tell him that we're in Kehya House dorm-deluxe."  
"Well, I accept the offer, but I will bring it up with the headmaster, okay?"  
"Oh, thank you, Kelsie! You're the best!"  
"Now, get into bed and allow me to sing you a lullaby that me mam used to sing to me when I was a wee babe in the cradle," she said with a wink. Kimberly took the hint and hopped back into bed, letting her stressed body relax and loosen up and the velvet and silk still warm to the touch, along with the scent of lavender talc in her pillow, inhaling the beautiful scent, which made her even groggier. Kelsie cleared her throat and began to sing in an alluring voice that brought tears of joy to Kimberly's eyes.  
"_Bidh Clann Ulaidh, laoigh 's a lurain,  
Bidh Clann Ulaidh air do bhanais,  
Bidh Clann Ulaidh, laoigh 's a lurain,  
Dèanamh an danns' air do bhanais._

_Bidh Clann a' Righ, bidh Clann a' Righ,  
Bidh Clann a' Righ air do bhanais,  
Bidh Clann a' Righ seinnear a' phìob,  
Òlar am fìon air do bhanais._

_Bidh Clann Amhlaidh na fir ghreannmhor,  
Bidh Clann Amhlaidh air do bhanais,  
Bidh Clann Amhlaidh na fir ghreannmhor,  
Dèanamh an danns' air do bhanais._

_Bidh Clann Choinnich nam feachd soilleir,  
Bidh Clann Choinnich air do bhanais,  
Bidh Clann Choinnich nam feachd soilleir,  
Dèanamh an danns' air do bhanais._

_Bidh Clann Dhòmhnaill tha cha neonach,  
Bidh Clann Dhòmhnaill air do bhanais,  
Bidh Clann Dhòmhnaill tha cha neonach,  
Dèanamh an danns' air do bhanais._"

Kelsie finished with a low note filled with power and dignaty as she stroked Kimberly's hair. She could tell by the rise and fall of her pupil's back that Kimberly was asleep, deeply. She smiled, kissed her head and left the eight ninth-grade girls asleep dreaming of life and lovely teachers.

11. Depreission is Moi

T

he next morning, Diana awoke to the sound of wailing and snorts and comments of comfort. She immediately launched herself out of her bed, pulled off her nightdress under the duvet, pulled on a bikini she kept under her pillow, snatched her robe from its hanger and was going to slide over to the sauna room, where she thought everyone else was residing, but everyone was still in the bedroom, eating bacon, eggs, apple fritters and croissants with blackberry jam, marmalade and butter. But despite the breakfast's happy attempt, her three sisters were wailing in their beds about some stupid employee pushing round and their father. Diana pulled her phone out of the charger, dialed her password, opened the e-mail icon, and checked for new messages. Only one: from their mother titled _Grave News_. She opened it and read it. By the time she finished reading it, she put it in the junk folder and emptied it (it was the only message in there, before, it was empty). Her eyes began to leak tears like a leaky levee before everything came down with a whoosh, an untamable wave of destruction. However, in Diana's case, it all came apart with an "AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" And she became to sob and pound the phone with her fists until its screen broke with a crack and she continued in a rage until Katla screamed  
"No, Diana! What the hell-"  
Diana got up, dropped her phone on the ground, picked up a pillow and threw it at Katla's face. Katla's face was a mixture of sorrow, despair, fury and a cornered cat look. She dodged it with feline grace and hollered

"IF YA WANNA HANDLE IT LIKE THIS, THEN IT'S ON!"

Katla's eyes, glazed over with fury, darted around the room in search of a subtle weapon while her friends screamed "NO! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!"

She leapt upon a small knife, reserved for cutting drapes only, and unsheathed it. She crouched down and waited until she was right behind Diana and pounced on her roommate. Diana toppled over and onto Hannah's bed as she grabbed a heel that she was holding as a temporary weapon. She tried to bonk an enraged Katla on her head, but Katla just chopped off the heel and pressed the dagger to Diana's pale, slender throat. Diana whimpered and began to scream as Katla brought up her knife and started to bring it down on her throat, her eyes crackling with fury and malice.

" KATLA! STOP!" Anna shouted.

Katla froze and shook her head. Her eyes were no longer glazed over. She gazed at the knife and at Diana in bewilderment.

"I-uh-what-huh-" was all she managed before she collapsed in a dead faint, dropping the knife onto the bed. Kimberly gave a small cry and rushed over to her friend's side and checked her pulse. It was steady, but skipped a beat every ten or so.

"C'mon, girls, let's get her to-"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUCIFER IS GOING ON HERE?! AND WHY ARE YOU NOT IN CLASSES?!"

Kimberly froze. She knew that voice. She turned around slowly and backed away, as if the teacher was a bear. The teacher towered over even Kimberly's 5-foot eleven frame, around six feet tall without shoes. His black eyes glittered with malice and glee. Kimberly looked him square in the eye, but shivered ever so slightly.

"Y-yes?" Diana sniffled, backing up.

Mr. Winston glared at the shivering girl.

"I don't believe I granted you permission to speak, Miss Hung. Miss Stanford, why are you and your roommates not in class?"

"Mrs. K-Kingsley gave us permission, sir," Anna whispered, curled up into a ball so tight, it would've made an armadillo jealous.

"Detention, Miss Willows, for speaking out of turn. I believe that children should be seen and not heard."

Kimberly trembled with anger. _We should seen_ and _heard, not ignored_, she thought as Mr. Winston took out a note pad and filled out a demerit sheet and handed it back to Anna. She held it up with trembling hands.

Name: Anna Willows

Grade: 9th

Reason for demerit: Speaking out of turn and lying about not being in classes.

"B-but, sir, I'm telling the truth. Mrs. Kingsley said-"

"ENOUGH!" Mr. Winston was getting so mad that his usually red nose turned a shade of Rudolph-red.

"ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL-"

"HENRY!" a voice behind him boomed with such force that he stopped his words in their tracks. Mrs. Kingsley stormed in, with the whole 10th grade class on the top floor. She stormed over to him in high-heeled ankle boots that clicked against the marble and a white dress billowing out behind her in miles of plush silk.

"I gave them permission to stay here, Henry. Four of them are recovering from a loss, and the other four are helping them. Please don't be so harsh. Now, GET OUT OF HERE!"

Mr. Winston turned even redder in the face as he bumped into the doorframe and ran out, cursing, into the elevator as the bell rang, signaling the next period. Mrs. Kingsley waited until the 10th grader's footsteps were out of earshot as they followed Mr. Winston to math. Mrs. Kingsley ran over to Katla's side as she yelped.

"Good lord! What happened? And why is the knife out of its-"

She narrowed her eyes at Diana, who swallowed and clutched the heelless slipper.

"Mrs. Kinsley-Kelsie-I can explain!" Kimberly said.

She explained about how sad Diana was, and how Katla had gotten so enraged that she took out the knife and almost killed Diana, not on purpose, but in some sort of a trance as Mrs. Kingsley-or Kelsie, as she prefers it-checked Katla's pulse and her breathing, Anna-still in shock about her first demerit ever-ran over to the Jacuzzi and brought back some food as Hannah and her sisters climbed into bed and Kelsie nursed them like a mother. Rachel slowly sipped her broth as Katla was heaved up onto her bed and tucked under the velvet comforter and several soft pillows. Then Kelsie turned her eyes over to Anna.

"_Quid iniuriam, Anna_?" she murmured..

"_Lorem__Winston__dedit mihi__non sit__in genere__demereretur__, et __non est__mendacium et-_" Anna began crying into her hands as Kelsie hugged her tight.

"_Nolite audire __quod__vetus__troglodytam__care,_"she whispered into her ear.

"_Ego semper__odio._"

This made Anna feel better and she sighed with a long breath as she crawled into bed, closed her eyes and stayed there. Kelsie smoothed her hair with a gentle hand.  
"She's tired and needs rest. Now, I must return to my break. See-"

The clock on the mantle piece chimed eleven thirty.

"Oh, and did I forget to mention that the Nutcracker Ballet tryouts are after lunch?" she said with a wink as she strolled out of the room, her silky dress trailing out behind her in plushy goodness. If there had been a baby in the room, it would've been able to sleep in her dress train with tons more room.  
The girls chattered excitedly as they looked around in their suitcases. All they had were sweats, hair mousse, black leotards, sheer black pantyhose, Kimberly and Posy's leotards, tights, hair accessories, soft ballet shoes, legwarmers, tutus and actual pointe shoes (they danced in the Royal Ballet School after school in England); short tulle skirts they had found from scrounding around in one of Diana's trunks and glittery stage make up. There were enough leotards for all of them, only 5 pairs of hose, 6 sweats and 7 skirts. Hannah was outraged.

"I'm going to leave it to the _experts_," she sniffed, shooting daggers at Posy and Kimberly as she stormed away. Diana tried to calm her, but Hannah socked her in the face with a pillow, so she backed off, leaving her friends puzzled.

"Well, they are experts," Nicole said over lunch, smoothing a lock of untucked hair behind her small ear with a grin.  
"Let's give'em a shot. I didn't want to do it anyways," Katla shurgged.  
Kimberly and Posy both felt uneasy.

_There's no way in heck I'm gonna get the lead_, Kimberly thought with disdain as Chatlin's clique, with Chatlin in the lead, strutted over to their table. Chatlin was wearing the most ridiculous ballet costume ever. She had on a golden tutu and her leotard was encrusted in fake scarlets and rubies. It was a beautiful, but tacky costume for a tryout. Kimberly pretended to not see them and twirled her fork in her spagetti as Chatlin did _échappes_ the remaining way to their table.  
"Hey, Stanford-upon-Avon, guess what? I'm trying out for The Nutcracker. And there's nothing you can-"  
"Actually, it's _Stratford_-upon-Avon," Kimberly said lightly, smiling as she popped the spaghetti in her mouth. Chatlin's face burned crimson as she sneered.  
"Oh, you think you're so smart? Then do a _pas de deux_. Solo."  
"I'll do it! Just give me a few minutes-I need to change."  
Kimberly got up from the table, grabbed her dance bag and grabbed Posy as she ran toward the girls' bathroom. As soon as Kimberly found an open changing stall, she whispered to Posy.  
"Can you get my practice tutu? I think I left it in my closet."  
"Sure thing. Where exactly-" but all Posy got as a response was purple-and-white lace trimmed Victoria's Secret bra in the face and a sharp "Get going, bitch!"  
And with that, Posy ran out, her heels clicking simultaneously on the hardwood floors, out the door, up the gravel road, into the hall and right into someone coming out of their dorm.  
"OW!" Posy yelled, eyes watering as she stood up, clutching her head as she went to check out her victim, and then froze.  
Gods of Egypt. She knocked over a boy, and he was gorgeous, to boot. He moaned softly as he sat up.  
"God, couldn't you just slow down? You were acting there was a bear coming after you," he said, a smile forming on his face. He had tousled black hair and eyes the color of melted chocolate and skin the color of ivory.  
"Blimey, I'm sorry, um…" Posy sputtered, her face turning crimson.  
"Anthony Van Toppan. You?"  
"Um, Posy McWilliams. Look, I got to go. 'Bye!"  
"Wait! Posy-" Anthony spluttered, but Posy had gone into the dorm, found Kimberly's tutu on one of the beds and ran back to the bathroom, where Kimberly had just finished slicking back her hair with gel.  
"Yes! Now," Kimberly said, cracking her knuckles as she went  
"Let's show this bitch who's boss."

12. Tryout Trauma

H

ey, Chatlin, look who's coming," Tracy said with a sneer as she ate a large serving of hot fudge sauce from the dessert cart. Chatlin gracefully turned around in her glittery tulle skirt and lightly worn pointe shoes to see Kimberly doing five pirouettes in a row across the lunch room without a falter, in a crisp black tutu and once-satiny, worn-down but pristine looking pointe shoes. Chatlin's jaw dropped open as Kimberly did 10 fouette turns and a soaring grande jete, right over a group of super smart seventh graders, one of whom did a face plant in her split pea soup, and emerged coughing and crying. Kimberly landed almost without a thump and stood up on one pointed toe, in a dramatic arabesque, her hands fanned out behind her, her head thrown back. As Kimberly stayed there, all eyes glued upon her, one teenage boy in dark jeans and a simple black t-shirt climbed out of his seat and strode over to Chatlin, grinning wickedly in her sparkly costume and crystal tiara.  
"You know, bitch," the boy snapped at Chatlin, who shot him a puppy eyed glance

"There's no possible way to do a solo pas de deux, 'cuz deux means 'two' in French. And to save this chick from embarrassment-" at this, he pointed at Kimberly, who was blushing fiercely "-by sparing her a certain scene from Swan Lake."

Kimberly almost swooned as the boy took her hand and led her to the announcement stage. As if by magic, the music started filtering out of the speakers like an icy mist, draping everyone in silence as they watched the two danced the final act of Swan Lake. As Kimberly preformed her death scene, she felt a tingling sensation up and down her body, the only thing that could be excitement. As Kimberly did her final steps, she was breathless and accepted the applause with gratitude. Her partner draped his arm around her waist, brushing her collarbone as he went. Again, Kimberly felt a slight spasm of pleasure echo throughout her body. _Oh, so he's a bad boy then_, Kimberly thought as he flashed her a smile and touched her arm softly. Inside, her mind was screaming "OMG! OMG! DON'T STOP! DON'T STOP!"

As they walked off, the ballet mistress came running up to them.

"You, my dear, are to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. And you, boy, are to be her partner. You may come to the auditions, I need to see you try out for the part first," was all she said and ran off, heels clicking.

"Wow, thank you for saving my reputation," Kimberly said shyly as the boy led her to her table, where all her friends were sitting, agape.  
"Tom, by the way," the boy said coolly.

"Kuh-Kimberly! Nice to meet you," she replied with a blush, and Tom sauntered away.  
"Let's go, you guys," Kimberly said, gesturing to the doorway of Sharp Hall, where a steady flow of students were leaking out into the hallway. Kimberly quickly pulled on her sweats, put her tutu under her arm and strode out into the hall and walked to the Perkins-Raymond Building.

As they entered the building, they saw many girls and boys, tying their pointe shoes and black skirts and drinking golden serum that Kimberly thought was steroids, but when she asked what it was, she got a punch in the arm and "It's just a shot of rum, bitch!" hissed in her ear. Posy had quickly left to change in Kehaya House, while the others waited to get Kimberly's number up at the counter. Kimberly filled out a form for her and Posy to show that they were Asheville School students and flashed her and Posy's school I.D.s to the guy behind the counter. Once she was waved through, she ran off to the dressing rooms, where people waited in groups to be called in the gym. Then once they were all waiting, they would tell the people in charge what they wanted to try out for. Then you would get pulled into the gym to interview you, take measurements and ask the person to do a simple variation from the Sleeping Beauty. This went on for about 3 hours. As Kimberly heard her name, she pulled on her simple wrap skirt, grabbed her tutu and pointe shoes and went into the gym.

"Ms. Stanford."

A young woman in tights and a leotard was seated at a small table, which was laden with vegetables, cookies, drinks and tea. Kimberly quickly ate a carrot as the teacher observed her.  
"I'm Ms. Wilde, I believe I told you to come. I know I want to cast you as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but I think everyone should have a chance. Miss Chatlin is quite the competition-I asked her to do five triple pirouettes in a row, and she executed them quite gracefully, but stumbled on the last one.

"She said that you wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, and told me to tell you that you haven't got a chance. But what do you think?"

Kimberly was horrified. She thought Chatlin was just trying to fake it, but what a surprise!  
"Oh, I think I'll be able to do it just as well as she did," Kimberly replied coolly.

"So, how long have you been dancing?" asked Ms. Wilde.

"Eleven years, and five years on pointe."

"Well! Let's see you do…" Ms. Wilde stopped, an evil grin plastered on her face like a mask.

"…thirty-two fouette turns."  
Ms. Wilde turned to the pianist and told her the music needed. As the pianist struck those familiar cues, Kimberly walked out on stage, lowered herself into fourth position, and as the fouette music began, she sprang up onto pointe, her right leg swinging out and into _passé_, and did the 32 fouettes with grace and ease. As she landed in fourth after her turns were finished, Ms. Wilde stood with a large open mouth.  
Kimberly respectfully curtsied and ran out.

13. Spies

S

o, how was it?" Hannah asked as she and her sisters accompanied her friends out of the building, their shoes kicking up gravel as they made their way to Kehaya House. There were a lot of kids on Kehaya Lawn as the girls went into the dorm and changed.

But as they were climbing up the stairs to the main floor, the security icons blinked, and a choppy Chatlin was banging on the door, saying "Shalom. Can I see your dorms?"

"Oh, we can't show her the real ones. We'll be doomed!"  
"Do not worry, Posy. I have this," Anna said with a grin and a glint in her eyes.

"Oh, hi Posy. Can I, like, see your dorm?" Chatlin warbled as Posy cracked open the door. Quickly, Kimberly threw herself into one of the wardrobes just as Posy turned around  
"Sure, Chatter Box, c'mon in," Posy yawned as Chatlin, the little bitch queen herself, flounced in, wearing a simple gold shirt and a small black mini skirt and neck breaking 8 inchers heels. Posy herself was wearing a pink mini dress and white flats. Even in those killer heels, Chatlin was barley hitting the 5' 1" mark on the height chart, whereas Kimberly, in white flats was right at the 5' 11" mark-larger than any of their fellow family members.

As Chatlin wobbled in the faux dorm, she exclaimed  
"Eww, what's that horrible reek?" she moaned.  
"It's-" Posy paused, ready to explain about the dirty dorm, when she looked about the room, and saw a perfectly made up dorm. The windows were curtained with light gauzy white drapes, the walls had blue wallpaper, and the beds were christened with thick, fluffy purple velvet comforters and matching pillows with crisp, starched lavender sheets. In the corner, there were a few dressers, each embossed with their dormmate's names, with a small vanity and random tubes of makeup everywhere and a small lotus in a crystal vase. There was a lot of vintage furniture in the corners: Louis the XII chairs, couches, pedestals, tables and desks, with jars filled with pencils, pens and markers. The bathroom was beautiful, the Victorian toilet spotless white and sink tiled with white. All of the furniture reeked of lemon-scented polish. Posy's mouth fell open, as did Chatlin's.  
"-the furniture polish, I presume."  
"W-wow!" stammered Chatlin as she shakily got out her phone and snapped several pictures of everything in the dorm and uploaded it onto her Facebook page, with the title _The Dorm Across the Hall._ The message underneath said, _Hi, it's your favorite girl, DormGurl3000! But you can call me Chatlin. It's my first week at Asheville School, and here's the dorm across the hall from me! As you can see, compared to my dorm, it's, like, 10 times better than my dorm, and I wanna move in! [To: TrayGum5060, RainyCloud7.0, SwanLake1234, MaidenMargret2034, BlackSwana7273, BrynietTouchiet3092, MommyTales4231, LyonBacon4567, and FrannyRained78:HHH__D__TTT__O__YYY__N__UUU__'T__EEE__T__OOO__R__SSS__U__WWW__S__RRR__T__AAA__P__CCC__O__PPP__S__QQQ__Y__XXX__O__III__R__DDD__H__GGG__E__KKK__R__LLL__F__BBB__R__FFF__I__VVV__E__MMM__N__JJJ__D__HUH__S__OUO._

Posy shot Chatlin a stern look of _get out_ as Chatlin rummaged through Rachel's closet and found her opal gown, stripped down in front of poor Posy, who was about to faint as she had found the unfortunate way that Chatlin wore no undergarments but lacy panties and a matching bra, stuffed with tissue paper. When she took off the bra, she exposed her chest, as flat as a floor on a new house; slipped on the dress over her head and squeezed Posy's large breasts, causing horrible chest pain. Posy's eyes began to fill with tears.  
"Now, now hon. I'm onto your little games. I've been watching you since you left EH," she hissed as she pulled out a small pistol from her skirt and pinned Posy to the wall. Chatlin's hair sparkled in the dusty sunlight as she proceeded to shoot Posy in the heart. This was too much for Kimberly.  
"NO, CHATLIN!" she cried as she came barreling out from inside the vintage wardrobe and landed on top of Chatlin. She and her friend's almost assassin tumbled head over heels, which is quite hard to do and look good doing while in a priceless iridescent gown and an evening dress. Kimberly screamed as Chatlin mercilessly tried to punch her in the jaw and eyes. Quickly, Kimberly waited for the next jab, and grabbed Chatlin's fist and flipped her onto her back.  
"You may have skill, girl," rasped Chatlin as blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth "but you're doomed. We will rule the world."  
Chatlin hitched up her skirt as she shuffled around the room and she strode toward the door and out into the hall. Posy stood there, staring at Chatlin's clothes as the other girls came up.  
"Posy? Are you okay?" Kimberly whispered as Posy allowed a small tear to snake down her cheek and sink into Chatlin's fake breast. Then, after so many months, Posy melted into Kimberly's arms and sobbed her eyes out into her best friend's uniform dress.  
"Um, let's go back down for a snack," Anna said nervously "and relax in the Jacuzzi with some simple cheeseburgers and real American shakes. Let me tell y'all, you haven't lived until you've had one of them-"  
"You guys go downstairs, I'll be there in just a second. I must talk to…"  
"Of course, Kimberly," Hannah replied, elbowing Anna in the side as they descended.  
"Oh, Posy," Kimberly cooed as they stretched out together on one of the makeshift beds, Posy bawling, clinging to Kimberly like she was a life raft from the Titanic.  
"What did she say to you?" Kimberly whispered softly, stroking her friend's hair.

"She-she touched me!" Posy howled, her tears soaking the bed and her eyes growing bloodshot.

"My breasts!" she sob-whispered, her chest hurting.

"She knows about all of us. She's been tracking us since we left Evergreen Hill." She paused.

"Kimberly, I think she's Sierra."

"She what?!" Tracy howled with laughter as Chatlin relayed what had happened in Kimberly's dorm. Chatlin lounged about in the opal gown and sipped some of the apple cider she had gotten smuggled in from the cellar of a nearby winery. She nibbled daintily on a cracker slathered with crème frashie and topped with a small piece of smoked salmon. The girl with the coffee-cream complexion stood up and puckered her dripping scarlet lips-she had just eaten a rabbit raw because she was a vampire-and dabbed at the droplets under her lip with a napkin.

"This rabbit is good. Do you think I would look good with this color-" she rubbed her finger across her lip-"for the ballet? I think I should find another rabbit and drain its blood into a small container and use the blood as a lip stain or gloss."

"Cool, Karoline," Chatlin said as she took out her planner and shuffled through her pages, looking for due dates for her homework. She had so much more than at EH. And she was confident that she would get the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy, why not? She had done the triple pirouettes with grace, but there was a rumor going around that someone had heard the music for the fouette turns from Swan Lake and had peeked to see what was going on when they had seen Kimberly, ballet goddess, doing 32 fouettes on pointe and doing each one perfectly. But Chatlin wasn't going to let that get in her way on her road to success.

She was Chatlin Monterey, and she was extraordinary.

14. Strange Powers and Fate of the World

T

he next day, since it was a weekend, they slept in. They missed breakfast, but they had waffles and whipped cream and downloaded some music on their iPods. They had all one favorite band in common, Black Veil Brides. Their favorite song was "Set the World on Fire". Then the Hung sisters started to sing the song with, as usual, perfect unison with the singers. They were perfect, talented, smart and creepy. They could test out their abilities freely in the dorm-Posy, flying; Kimberly, teleporting; and the Hung sisters singing. Then, all of a sudden, Katla began to develop a strange ability to ask people for things, and they would always say yes, no matter what the request, from a leather bag to a new Victoria's Secret perfume. Next, Anna began to develop a strange habit of conjuring up anything, like a new tube of Maybelline lip gloss, or a bottle of Chardonnay. Finally, Kimberly could communicate in any language, from modern day languages to dead languages, like Latin. So she decided to enroll in the French language class, and improve on her language skills.  
"Will it snow soon?" Hannah queried in the afternoon as the sunny day began to fade, and made way for dark storm clouds.

"I don't know. It's only-" Kimberly's jaw dropped as white, fluffy snowflakes began to rain down outside. Hannah was jumping up and down.

"I can control the weather, you guys!" she squealed.

"Watch this!"

Slowly, she thought of sunny, hot days, like in August in Greece, and like snakes, the storm clouds slithered away, and the sun came out. Then Katla told them that they had to check in for study hall, but when they got there, Katla asked the teacher there if they could study in there dorms.

"Yes, of course you can," the teacher simpered as the girls walked back to their dorm. Kimberly pulled out her homework from her binder-she had the most homework, since she was in the AP level for most of her classes-and did all her algebra and some of her pre-calculus homework. She also was thinking about planning her speech for her senior year, which she'd have to present in front of the whole school. After about an hour of algebra, pre-calc, humanities, and several shots of sauvignon blanc later, Kimberly was feeling light headed and drunk. Of course, being the smart girl she always was, she had the shots after her homework was finished and by then, all of her friends were in bed, so she grabbed a large bottle of Melatonin, poured herself a special amount and chugged it down. Immediately, she began to feel woozy, so she grabbed her special hangover mask-Anna had conjured up for all of them-out of the freezer, stripped down to her lacy thong and sleeping bra, and fell into bed just as sleep took over.

In her dreams, she was in water, flailing about and coughing. Then a beautiful water nymph rose out of the water. No, it wasn't a nymph.

"Chalchiuhtlicue?" she coughed as the beautiful goddess tucked her hair behind her ears.  
"Yes, child, it is me," Chalchiuhtlicue whispered, her face fresh and unflawed with youth.

"I have come to warn you of your fire eyes. You are no water element. You are the prophisied leader of the girls that will save the world from total destruction and rule of a god."

The lovely goddess held out her hand and a ball of light appeared in it. Inside the ball was a picture of a man with a golden septer and a golden crown with two golden horns.

"Tom Hiddleston? Threat to the world?" Kimberly chuckled.  
The goddess stared at Kimberly with dark eyes.  
"Laugh as you may, mortal, but this is the Loki, the real god from Asgard. He resembles Tom Hiddleston, but do not underestimate this: he is a real god and he has escaped his bonds from the death of Balder. He controled you so that he could scare the other mortals."

"I didn't know it would be like this," Kimberly whispered, her head sinking farther and farther underwater until she couldn't breath.

Then the world went black.

15. The Results


End file.
